transect 1 - the half of it
Installation @ Arrowmont
Degrees of Commitment: Climate, Ecosystems, and Society
SEPTEMBER 5 – DECEMBER 16, 2023 | SANDRA J. BLAIN GALLERIES
“This project represents twin bodies, my own and that of my sibling, JT, who died in 2020. A pair of coveralls (no, two pairs), are imprinted and altered in mirrored ways. The materials sewn into both have been changed over time. One gets left in the forest, one gets worn. We can imbue an object with significance, and expose it to decomposition, but some elements persist. Can we heal by letting things lie? What processes happen when we can’t bear to look at something? I want to depict the impossibility of my brother, and of myself with and without him. In the place where we grew up, where he lived and I live now, and where I buried this project in the dirt for weeks, he felt exposed and I am constantly uncovering. How did he see himself? How can I respect his desire and his memory? And how can I do my own work while holding a pocket of privacy and fluidity, his life's practice of refusal and undefinition?”
Artist’s Statement
"The Half of It"
This project represents twin bodies, my own and that of my sibling, JT, who died in 2020. A pair of coveralls (no, two pairs), are imprinted and altered in mirrored ways. The materials sewn into both have been changed over time, in the same way a memory changes through repeat recall. One gets left in the forest, one gets worn.
I want to depict the impossibility of my brother, and of myself with and without him. In the place where we grew up, where he lived and I live now, and where I buried this project in the dirt for weeks, he felt exposed and I am constantly uncovering. How can I respect his desire and his memory? How can I do this work while holding a pocket of privacy and fluidity, his life's practice of refusal and undefinition? This is a part of a larger project, Mourningtown, a landscape-based series exploring grief as repetitive work that makes both loss and change visible over time.
In order to see the totality of the piece, you have to get up close and interact with both the ghost sculpture and my living, moving body. I don't intend for either of these to be easy.
