Privatization, 2020

Carolyn Lazard’s installation Privatization is realized through commercially available HEPA (high-efficiency particulate absorbing)-filter air-purifying devices. The number of purifiers used depends on the size of the gallery in which it is displayed. By inserting these otherwise unremarkable appliances in the purportedly sterile “white cube” gallery setting, Lazard points out something that visitors may not have registered otherwise: the particulates in the air that HEPA purifiers mitigate against. In doing so, Lazard calls attention to just one reality of living with chronic illness—a sensitivity to chemicals found in cleaning products and fragrances—and by extension, the realities of living with such conditions more broadly. Conceptually, this artwork makes invisible aspects of disability visible, while literally taking care of its viewers by cleansing the air, putting accommodation on display rather than waiting for a request to be fulfilled.