Yet, because they were so hidden, in both spaces, Waters has had to coax people in. She painted the railing outside Martyr Sauce pink this year, to show that the gallery is still there. âI always felt like a carney,â she says of trying to draw people in. âIâm like, âStep right up!ââ
The pandemic only exacerbated the struggle to show art underground. Martyr Sauce has no windows and, since it sits in the belly of an old building in a historic district, Waters had limitations on how much she could alter it to, say, improve airflow. So when Ebbets Field Flannels vacated its well-fenestrated adjacent storefront, Waters decided to expand.