ART BASEL

Damascus rose is a variety of marble originating in Syria, distinctive for its flesh-like tone. DOROTHY CROSS uses it as thematerial for a new sculpture, DamascusPillow–a seemingly-pliable pillow bearing adepression at the centre, as if left by a restinghead. In this imprint, the point of contactwith the human body, an ear emerges fromthe stone. Cross sees nature and the body assites of constant change and flux. Her worksharness this fluidity and generative power, staging unexpected encounters between plants, animals, body parts and everyday objects, resulting in strange, hybrid forms that rangefrom the lyrical, sublime and meditative, to the erotic, humorous and playful.

The southern US border, and the humanitarian crisis taking place in its vicinity, is the focus of BRIAN MAGUIRE’s Arizona 2. For the last five years, Maguire has beenresearching the annual fatalities of Central American migrants in the deserts aroundTucson, Arizona. Working in cooperation with the Chief Medical Officer of Pima County,Maguire draws upon archives of images originally made by law enforcement to create hispaintings. Approaching painting as an act of solidarity, Maguire operates a truly engaged practice, compelled by the raw realities of humanity’s violence against itself, and the potential for justice. Past bodies of work have seen him investigate feminicido in Juárez, the favelas of Brazil, and most recently, the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Montana, where Maguire is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at Missoula Art Museum (18 March–13 August).