--- title: Ilana Harris Babou description: Time has been doing strange things lately — things it’s always done. Moving slowly, looping around, flying by. We invited 9 artists and creators whose practices include time-based works, to make works on time in this time. To shine a little light on, and help us make our own sense of, time in a year that has gone by many names. image: https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5fc2d70bda423a305e2d7c23/5ffb400b7b781f3b9540f6f9_ilana_Social%20Metadata.png --- [![Time in This Time](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/TIME-IN-THIS-TIME.svg) as told by artists and creatives ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/) Things have been surreal and too real; novel and getting old fast; overwhelming, challenging, and hard with bright spots. We’ve been locked down and trying to build each other up. This (time) capsule is an offering. A mosaic of meditation. A sourdough starter of creativity to help feed your own. Take a step back, take a breath, take a look, and take your time. [On the emotionality of time Always Changing, Always Growing** A work by Livia Falcaru ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/livia-falcaru) [On everything happening at once Live from Beirut** Soundtracks by Ziad Nawfal and Ruptured Records ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ziad-nawfal) [On the disappearance of time How to Have a Week A comic by Grace Miceli ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/grace-miceli) [On potential futures Third Round, Part 6** A lullaby by Azikiwe Mohammed ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/azikiwe-mohammed) [On connection A remote experience generator** Interactive ideas by double take labs ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/double-take-labs) [On time spent on home Making Due** A storyboard by Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ilana-harris-babou) [On ritual A Lockdown Guide to Sunday Dinner** A photo essay by Black Appétit ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/black-appetit) [On becoming A Question** by David Allen Burns and Austin Young // Fallen Fruit ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/fallen-fruit) [On timelessness Take a Little Trip** A window by Kylah Benes-Trapp ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/kylah-benes-trapp) [Brought to you by the timekeepers at ![Harvest Logo](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/harvest-logo-black-214813b83641bcf78a4dbc8f7ed5b1e765b71d2b6754f6677f8c754e21916ca8-1.png) ](https://getharvest.com) ![](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-7.23.22-PM.png) On time spent at home ## Making Due** A storyboard by Ilana Harris-Babou ![Ilana Harris-Babou](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/1.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/2.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/Ilana_3.png)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/4.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/5.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/6.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/7.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/8.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/9.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/Screen-Shot-2020-12-17-at-5.22.40-PM.png)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/11.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/12.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/13.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/Ilana_14.png)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/15.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/16.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/17.gif)![Ilana Harris-Babou ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/Ilana_18.png) [![Down Arrow](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/downarrow.svg)](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ilana-harris-babou#art) In *Making Due*, a series of gifs from her recent video work Nature is Healing, Nature is Healing, Ilana Harris-Babou presents imaginary correspondences from a character who has fled Brooklyn for the countryside during the Spring of 2020. ‍ The protagonist documents her failed attempts as self-sufficiency. Her pursuits mimic Instagram trends that surfaced in the early days of social distancing in  New York City. She tries to grow a garden, keep  scallions alive on her windowsill, make sourdough, and keep a journal. Each of her projects wilts or goes bad. In the end, she finds solutions to her “problems” that are as absurd as they are instructional. ‍ About her art practice, Ilana says: "I use the aspirational tropes of popular culture as a Trojan Horse to get into the viewer's line of sight. Once seen, the work distorts and distends the abject failures of material desire. I reference these genres in order to confront the expectations of the American Dream; to face the ever unreliable notion that hard work will lead to upward mobility and economic freedom." In turns humorous and melancholic, the work explores the pitfalls of avoidance in times of crisis, and the alienated strategies we use to distract ourselves.*** * [Ilana Harris-Babou](https://ilanahb.com)’s work is interdisciplinary; spanning sculpture and installation, and grounded in video. In her darkly funny, wholly handmade works, Harris-Babou explores the contradictions of consumerism and aspiration culture. Her world-making and her incisive, pretty meditations on home life raise the question of what it means to lockdown where. She has been thinking about home, and about the endless loop of long time. ![Ilana Harris-Babou headshot](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/harris.jpg) Ilana Harris-Babou **From **Brooklyn, New York Website [ilanahb.com/](https://ilanahb.com/) Instagram [@ilanahbhb](https://www.instagram.com/ilanahbhb) Ilana's works explore home and our aspirations, confronting us with contradictions in our culture around beauty and growth. "The surfaces in my studio alternate between glossy, crusty, and ephemeral," she says. "I think about how the artist’s studio might be analogous to other spaces of creation. I pick at the trope of a solitary genius flinging around paint between white walls. I wonder: Which kinds of creative labor are revered, and which are mundane? How is a studio different from a kitchen? Both are spaces where we shape our identity by surrounding ourselves with what we have made." ### More works by Ilana [![Ilana Harris-Babou](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/IlanaHarrisBabou_sanctuary_2019.jpg) *Sanctuary* (2019) ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ilana-harris-babou#) [![Ilana Harris-Babou](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/IlanaHarrisBabou_Untititled_Collage_SKM_C30820012615220_2020.jpg) *Untitled* (2020) ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ilana-harris-babou#) [![Ilana Harris-Babou](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/IlanaHarrisBabou_Untitled_Collage2_2019.jpg) *Untitled* (2019) ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ilana-harris-babou#) [![Ilana Harris-Babou](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/IlanaHarrisBabou_tree_2020.jpg) *Tree *(2020) ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/ilana-harris-babou#) ![](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/left.svg)![](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/right.svg) [A remote experience generator Interactive ideas by double take labs ![](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hs-fs/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/start.png?width=1440&name=start.png) On connection ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/double-take-labs) [On ritual A Lockdown Guide to Sunday Dinner A photo essay by Black Appetit ![](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/Harvest_TimeinthisTime_BlackAppetit_ChristYetka_plating.jpg) ](https://www.timeinthistime.com/black-appetit) [Brought to you by the timekeepers at ![Harvest Logo](https://www.timeinthistime.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/timeinthistime/images/harvest-logo-black-214813b83641bcf78a4dbc8f7ed5b1e765b71d2b6754f6677f8c754e21916ca8-1.png) ](https://getharvest.com) [Terms of Service](https://www.getharvest.com/terms-of-service) [Privacy Policy](https://www.getharvest.com/privacy-policy)