2016
Pilgrimage
Before her Odyssey, Ayden LeRoux and her partner went on a life-changing tour of the land art of the American West. The Odyssey Works team saw in this and in the huge changes she was facing in her life—moving, leaving a job, seeking a new career, schooling, and reckoning with health challenges—as a clear call for something she had already been fascinated with: a Pilgrimage. Before her Odyssey she had received a series of letters written between a pair of women on their own pilgrimages; the letters described a mystical place they called The Place of the Fallen Star. Though she didn’t know it, this described Dark Star Park, was a piece created by land artist Nancy Holt in Arlington, VA.
Ayden’s pilgrimage would lead her from Brooklyn to Manhattan and on to Maryland and Virginia. On her final day in New York City after eight years living there, she encountered friends, family, and strangers, gathering strength from various sources of power, ultimately finding herself at Brooklyn Bridge Park. There, a crew of dancers led the public in a choreographed scene in which she was enveloped by the group and wrapped in a cocoon of sheets inscribed with people’s hopes and dreams. In this cocoon, she was transported southward, away from her home and toward her future. She arrived that night in a strange house filled with pilgrims who joined her on her journey. Together they baked bread and then began a fast.
What followed was a long and arduous journey with many beautiful encounters. Ayden traveled by foot and train and car, covering many miles as she headed toward the Place of the Fallen Star. As she approached the pilgrimage site, she was given a pilgrim’s tunic, regalia made by a Native American woman who had faced similar health issues, and talismans inscribed with the wishes of friends and strangers.
At the end of her journey—sunset at Dark Star Park—she joined the other pilgrims as they left their offerings along with their petitions. The offering was both collective and personal, and as the night overtook the moment, the group dispersed and went on the rest of their life journeys, and Ayden did as well.
For a more in depth story about Pilgrimage, read more from Newsweek and Baltimore City Paper, or listen to her discuss the experience on WYPR.
LOCATIONS
New York: 3B Bed and Breakfast, QLabs, East River Ferry, The New York Picture Library; Maryland: private homes, Church and Company, The C&O Canal Tow Path; Virginia: Dark Star Park in Arglington, VA. Public Scene: Brooklyn Bridge Park.
CREDITS
Director: Abraham Burickson
Assistant Director: Darienne Turner
Formal Structure Team: Abraham Burickson, Darienne Turner, Eulani Labay
Production Manager & Director of Communications: Ana B. Freeman
Graphic Designers: Sasha Wizansky, Miles Holenstein, Brooke Thyng
Public Participation Coordinators: Eulani Labay, Kelly Tierney; Writing: Dare Turner, Laurel Lathrop, Abraham Burickson, Ana Freeman
Culinary team: Timothy Skehan, Lucas Loredo, Laura Wexle
Votive Artist: Kristen Racaniello
Workshop Design and Facilitation: Kelsey Crouch, Abraham Burickson
Scavenger Hunt Design: Ana Freeman
Tunic and Regalia Design: Stormi Turner
Curator of Pilgrimage Ephemera: Dare Turner
Dancers: Kristin Swiat, Maya Orchin, Jessica Meyer, Adam Robert Dickerson, Shelby Dinslage
Choreographers: Kristin Swiat, Maya Orchin, Jessica Meyers
Guides: Leanne Zacharias, Rick Moody, Graham Coreil-Allen
Mapping: Graham Coreil-Allen, Abraham Burickson, Dare Turner, Ana Freeman
Key Actors/ Scene Designers: Ariel Abrahams, Abraham Burickson, Dare Turner, Claudie Grout, Xandra Clark, Ana Freeman, Lucas Loredo, Rick Moody, Nate Brown, Duff Norris, Adam Sica, Leanne Zacharias, Lindsey Griffith; Pilgrims: Miles Holenstein, Laura Pazuchowski, Paul Spitz, Adam Sica, Ana Freeman, Duff Norris, Lindsey Griffith, Xandra Clark, Katy McCarthy
Photography: Xandra Clark, Katy McCarthy, Sasha Wizansky, Zorawar Sidhu; Pilgrim House Design: Paul Spitz
Publicity: Jaime Nelson-Noven, John Madera
Workshop Participants: Sasha Wizansky, Stephanie Hsu, Timothy Skehan, Joshua LaTour, Dare Turner, Ana Freeman, Adam Sica, Claudie Grout.
Special thanks to QLabs and all members of the public who participated in the New York, or Baltimore Public Scenes or via postcard from around the world.
The Narrative Spiral
Through sound, story, and strangers, Laura’s Odyssey spiraled inward—until all that remained was resonance. What followed was a return to self, forever changed by what she heard.
The Map Is Not The Territory
What began with a Borges book and a man in a goat mask became a wild hunt across New York—and a fiery, joyful rite of passage that pulled Carl from his mind into his body, and into a new life.
When I Left The House It Was Still Dark
A mysterious children’s book. A secret room. A flight to the Canadian prairie. Rick Moody’s summer was overtaken by art, blurring life and performance until the line disappeared completely.
The Dariad
From farmers market to museum, Dare’s Odyssey unfolded through fire, faces, and frames—transforming the familiar into the surreal, and turning quiet attentiveness into a powerful act of connection.
The Woven Life
In the mango groves of Baja, Suldano wove yarn, memories, and dreams into a new vision of self—blurring the real and the possible in a fabric of transformation.
The First Chapter
In a world where stories were currency, Josh journeyed through waterfalls, farm stands, and a writers’ commune—rediscovering creativity, community, and his own long-lost First Chapter.
The Book of Separation
A remote, poetic journey for two—The Book of Separation invites you and a loved one into a custom-built story of connection, distance, and what it takes to find your way back to each other.
The Road to Taz
In Lisbon and beyond, Jude followed signs only the searching can see—tattoos, songs, strangers, and stories—on a quest for TAZ, a fleeting world where chosen identity and imagined community come to life.
