by Gary Hill (Artist)
Two artists engage in a 20-year correspondence across cultural and creative boundaries as part of Dis Voir's Encounters series
Artist Gary Hill (born 1951) met Indigenous American Martin Cothren (1960-2016) from the Yakama Indian Reservation while looking for subjects for his 1996 piece Viewer. A fisherman by trade, Cothren also pursued illustration and beading, and the two men slowly developed an unlikely bond. Though they came from different backgrounds both culturally and creatively, Hill and Cothren forged a close connection and remained in one another's lives for the next 20 years, until Cothren's death. You Know Where I'm At and I Know Where You're At is the culmination of their "friendship of otherness." It traverses their ups and downs from paranoia and generosity to forgiveness and sorrow through drawings, handwritten letters and prose. The latest in Dis Voir's Encounters series, this book continues the project's goals of artistic and literary experimentation through collaboration.