Shu Lea Cheang
b. 1954, Taiwan
Shareen Lightfoot, 2024
Neon sign, televisions, vinyl print Installation based on a scene from Fresh Kill (1994)
Courtesy the artist

Shareen Lightfoot, 2024, is a commissioned installation by Shu Lea Cheang at Washington Square Windows coinciding with the 30th anniversary of her groundbreaking film, Fresh Kill, 1994. The experimental film speculates a post-apocalyptic New York City in which the lesbian protagonists navigate existential eco horror, consumer society, urban class drama, and technological dystopia. Described as an "eco cybernoia" and "avant-anarcho ecosatire," the film features a screenplay by Jessica Hagedorn and music by Vernon Reid. The new street-level installation Shareen Lightfoot spotlights an iconic neon sign from the film that alternates between the words "Kiss Kiss" and "Kill Kill" and a sprawling assemblage of televisions showing static noise. The image of film character Shareen Lightfoot (played by Sarita Choudhury) leaping over a techno junkyard wreckage looms in the background.