That Which Has Become Known (North)

The world we are a part of is constantly in flux, but it is difficult to perceive, understand, and acknowledge change when one is embedded within it. I am interested in relationships between our bodies and land, between the present and deep time, and between the earth’s revolution around the sun and our own movement within that system. Atmospheric variables like rain and wind are reminders that transformation is ever-present and that we are participants in a slow, incremental evolution. But in the anthropocene, once predictable weather patterns have become increasingly erratic, producing storms and fires and floods that push the limits of our ability to respond. My work is motivated by the question of placing oneself in an ever-evolving world, one that presents new ontological circumstances that are difficult to comprehend on a human scale. I create site-responsive works that reframe ecological phenomena in order to invite moments of wonder and reflection.

My most recent work distills moving sunlight into discrete moments captured through installation and mark-making. I track time by tracing light, keeping a tangible record of time’s movement that provides a new perspective. This new perspective positions the viewer on an edge of sorts—outside the given associations of a system and looking in. Unlike boundaries or borders, which are meant to divide and separate, edges are places where two surfaces or forces meet. Edges are precarious places, defined by a material reality. They exist at earth’s crust, on the surface of our skin, at the throat of a volcano, or at an ecotone where habitats meet, and they provide a vantage point to look at both what is above and below, what is behind and possibly ahead. I intend to challenge traditional methods of viewership by collaborating with the sun or clouds and engaging edges and apertures as a means to distill universal, timeless systems into tangible, present experiences. These experiences are meant to recognize the tension between our own physical insignificance and the absolute necessity of human agency, understanding, and empathy.