The world's largest sage smudge stick
The Great New York Smudge Cleanse
by Dinah Urell
photos: Marina Ancona

On Saturday, October 25, 2008, NYC – West Village, the world’s largest sage smudge stick traveled across Christopher Street, home to generations of queer history, ending at the Stonewall Inn, site of the defining event that marked the start of the modern gay rights movement in the United States, June 28, 1969. And today faces gentrification, driving queer communities out of Manhattan’s West Village.

One of four New York locations, over 4 weekends, to be ritually cleansed in the Greater New York Smudge Cleanse, (G.N.Y.S.C.) a public art project by native-born Astorian and interdisciplinary artist Jeanine Oleson; as the 10 ft. bundle of sage -“Supersized to combat negativity in contemporary times” - wafted through the air, the participating procession of activists, researchers, performers and the like, gathered while special guests read from historic homo-text, preceding a tea dance ( a casual afternoon dance popular in the early 20th century of which also became popular in gay culture) at the Stonewall Inn.

The traveling public art project applies the ancient practice of smoking out dormant bad energies to contemporary challenges; this included environmental pollution at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, site of one of the largest oil spills in American history, and the very polluted Gowanus Canal, known to contain STDs/PCPs. On November 3, the day before the election, G.N.Y.S.C. traveled Federal Hall, site of George Washington’s inauguration – "smudging away the bad energy associated with U.S. economic imperialism and current financial anxieties." In this particular case, burning was not allowed on site, so Oleson organized dancers, performances and talks, and handed out sage sticks to folks to “burn where they deem necessary!”

This summer, Oleson collected the sage in Santa Fe, Arizona where she and her partner spend time visiting family. There she crafted the Guinness-worthy spiritual tool, then shipped it home to Brooklyn. Oleson wasn’t available for immediate comment prior to this article, but judging from the photos on nycsmudge.com, the project smoked! Each of the rituals were sanctified by the sweet smell of sage, ceremonial mumus, cookies in the park, and all around good spirits as the smudge-festers perfomred a serious smoke-out of bad vibes.

If you have not had the occasion or are familiar with smudging, it is an ancient practice of cleansing space with smoke from bundled and burned herbs, generally sage. The burning of herbs for emotional, psychic, and spiritual purification is common practice among many religious, healing, and spiritual groups. It is thought that the sage smoke attaches to bad energies and releases it into another space where it will be regenerated into positive energy.

G.N.Y.S.C. is one of numerous projects by Oleson, an artist whose practice incorporates performance, film/video, installation, and photographic work, often collaboratively. A graduate of Astoria High School, she attended the Art Institute of Chicago, Rutgers University and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has exhibited at venues in NY, London, Boston, colleges, universities, galleries and her work has been recently published in Performa: New Visual Art Performance. She currently teaches interdisciplinary art at Sarah Lawrence College.

A frequent visitor to her home roots of Astoria, perhaps Jeanine Oleson will take the Greater Smudge on the road and bestow the Columbia River with a cleansing . . . of private corporate greed!