[Images in order of appearance: Shadow Maps graphic, detail of I will follow my beating heart (2025, gouache and graphite on artist cut paper, 50 x 86.5 inches), Method community gathering for Prince’s Jean Body Engagement in March 2025, community members hand-working the materials, Prince incorporating the community created sections to the in-process sculpture.]

Shadow Maps is a meditation on the fleeting, layered, and contradictory nature of being alive. Rooted in the tension between holding on and letting go, this body of work explores impermanence, memory, and the quiet clarity that emerges when we stop resisting time’s pull. Inspired by Prince’s reflection, "I am attached to this life as I pass through to what comes next," it charts an inner landscape shaped by subtle traces we leave and carry. Like shadows on a wall or wind over a field, each piece asks: What clarity comes when we pause the noise and simply listen? Shadow Maps invites viewers to live fully in the now — to embrace memory without clinging, to find sacredness in suffering, and to meet life with open eyes and hearts. These works are reminders: attention is an act of love. Joy takes time. And life continues — whether we notice or not.

These works were developed out of Prince’s time in residence at iolair on Orcas Island, WA. View a selection of the works in-person at Prairie Underground or in the on-line gallery below.

September 4 through 29 At Prairie Underground, 940 S Harney St (Georgetown) Seattle, WA

Open Hours: Monday - Friday 10:30AM – 5:00PM

Free and open to the public!

Exhibition Works Gallery:

I will follow my beating heart

Detail of "I will follow my beating heart"

I found a picture of you

Detail of "I found a picture of you"

I wait for you there, the branches shake

I was roaming around looking down

I thought I was here

I never dream with my eyes closed

I was away for 10 days visiting family

I adore you for a lifetime

I am ready, waiting

I know it's a fine balance

I have heard the call

I keep showing up here

I hold your face in my hands and heart

I know you have a little strength left

I know you have a little life if you yet

I reach out from the inside

I have no regrets, just memories

I keep thinking about you, and us

I am attached to this life as I pass through to what's next

Exhibition Statement:

“Shadow Maps” is a meditation on the fleeting, layered, and often contradictory nature of being alive. This body of work is rooted in the tension between presence and passage, between the desire to hold tightly and the wisdom of letting go.

Inspired by the poetic reflection:
“I am attached to this life as I pass through to what comes next, what comes after,”
this exhibition charts an interior landscape shaped by impermanence, memory, and the quiet clarity that can emerge when we stop resisting time’s pull.

Like a breeze passing over a summer field or a shadow crossing a wall, these works explore the invisible markers of time — those subtle, accumulative traces we leave behind and carry forward. They are a celebration of life as it is lived: full of scars and beauty, joy and ache, stillness and motion.

Each piece asks:
What can be revealed in three days?
What clarity comes when we step back from obsessive technologies, from the noise of fear-driven culture, and simply listen — patiently — to the whispers of our own hearts?

“Shadow Maps” invites viewers to consider the alternative: to revel in the now, to hold the past and future lightly, to see both suffering and sacredness in memory. To let go — not in defeat, but in radical acceptance — and to show up with open eyes and a full heart.

These works are not just reflections, but reminders:
That to hold on too tightly is to miss the moment.
That clarity is hard-won, and joy requires patience.
That even as time passes, even as flowers fall and branches bow,
life continues — whether we pay attention or not.

This is an invitation to pay attention.
To look into the eyes.
To see the weight of the wind.
To follow the sun of your own heart.

Welcome to Shadow Maps.

Reception & Jean Body Engagement: September 13, 2-6 PM

The upcoming Jean Body Engagement features the continuation of Prince’s Jean Bodies in which completed sculptures will be on view and a new work will be developed in a free public engagement at Prairie Underground. Event attendees are invited to participate throughout the activation; bringing jean donations to Prairie Underground during the month of August and throughout Prince’s exhibition Shadow Maps, and on Saturday, September 13, in the process of handworking the materials together, in community, and in conversation. As community members “finish” handworking their contribution the artist will work them together, creating one sculpture as a relic of real community and space for conversation around what reuse can look like in daily life.

This is the fourth of Prince’s “Jean Body Engagements”. Previous community events have been held at the 2024 Seattle Art Fair, Mini Mart City Park and Method Gallery.

This project is sponsored, in-part, by Prairie Underground, Mini Mart City Park, and private community partners.