Maybe Magic Will Help features a series of astrological processional banners, tufted ritual monsters and photo tear-off flyers offering viewers the chance to interact with and contribute their energetic influences toward a spell for the world we want to build.

Visitors are welcome to tear off images they feel they want to direct their energy towards (A Spell for Open Hot Tubs, A Spell for Free Health Care, etc.). The protective images are taken from Polaroids that I have taken and selected for the corresponding sigil. This project works with the ideas of folk magic and merging the “high art” of fine art darkroom photography with the “low art” of flyers found on telephone poles, bulletin boards and other community spaces.

I use ritual and magic as themes in my work. I see the banners as mobile altars, imbued with their own power—using planetary colors and petitions to the cosmos, based off of and installed in the order of my personal astrology chart. The banners are inspired by suffrage and religious banners, which to seek answers to the questions:
Can a piece of artwork cross the line between visually appealing and actually influencing the space or people around it? How can artwork be a talisman of protection? A tool for activism? An act of remembrance?

The tufted ritual monsters are my version of Bulgarian Kukeri, and a way to be in lineage with my Macedonian/Bulgarian ancestors. Kukeri spread good energy and chase away evil. In the words of a kukeri dancer: “If you don’t believe in something, it can’t exist.” This show is about believing our magic, and knowing how much of it we each have.

Maybe Magic Will Help                         Lacey Prpić Hedtke

Part of The Orange Year, curatorial climate crisis at the Neon Heater