They’re Going to Kill Me (New York City) 2020

Jammie Holmes made “They’re Going to Kill Me” (New York City) without paint, brush, or canvas, as an action. Skywriting is ephemeral. It’s there, and then the wind scatters it, like a thought that flickers and fades. The stark white letters hanging against the sky are a punch to the gut. You're confronted with the raw vulnerability of the words. The message slices through the idealized, often sanitized, image of New York. It’s easy to get caught up in the city’s beauty but this work makes you confront uncomfortable truths. Like Jenny Holzer, whose work makes one stop and think, Holmes makes one stop and feel. It's like a gut check about the present. The plane drags behind it an urgent statement, a raw expression of fear. It’s a direct line to the heart, a reminder of the precariousness of life.