In December 2012 Owens moved studio operations into the window at the New Museum Bookstore. During Hurricane Sandy she lost her Redhook apartment , making a residency particularly poignant . While residing in the window, Owens produced a series of multiples based on experiences in the storm to be sold in the bookstore, with a portion of the profits going to Redhook non-profits who were instrumental in helping people.
The first multiple is a small object, a cast of a MRE or Meal-ready-to-eat. Immediately after the storm the National Guard took up their own residency in Redhook patrolling the streets and handing out MRE's. These meals are used in emergencies and war to provide hot meals in the field. Cast in plaster, these objects are all white, a ghostly memory of itself.
The second series of works are woven collages that are scanned, printed and cut out to be sold as cards. Using found images as well as photographs taken after the storm to document the damage, the images exist simultaneously and explore the social and environmental causes of an ever increasing severe weather pattern.
The window is transformed from a display to production site. Instead of increasing the distance between maker and consumer as an ordinary display might, this window decreases that distance.