Z Behl: The Mule’s Vision

 Z Behl: Mule’s Vision brings together new paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptural works inspired by Behl’s 30-day canoe journey up the Erie Canal over the past summer with collaborator Kim Moloney. Traveling by canoe from Albany to Buffalo, Behl and Maloney camped along the Erie Canal, navigated 36 locks, and distributed a faux vintage newspaper, Mule’s Passage, as a way of engaging the large community of canal enthusiasts whose connections to the waterway span generations. At the center of the exhibition is the body of a mule, epitomizing invisible labor as an animal bred to work and die. A sculptural mule anchors the gallery, surrounded by paintings, drawings, and prints depicting moments from the journey, themes drawn from Erie Canal history, and scenes of magical realism. For example, herons carry cell phones in their clutches; fishermen catch historical concrete barges; and a mule with a woman’s body washes herself from a jug as young boys pull at her bridle. An installation of flowing fabric evokes water descending from above and rising from below, extending the canal’s presence into the gallery. Drawing on Cannaller folklore and a year of research supported by a grant from the Canal Corporation and Erie Canal Museum, the works become Behl’s way of processing an extraordinary journey through the canal’s history, mythology, labor, and landscape. A second exhibition about the voyage, centered on an endurance art performance, will be presented at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, NY in April 2027.