Artist Statement
I am an artist who creates digital installation pieces which combine childlike aesthetic and adult narratives to question imposed societal systems and norms. I often combine video and space into a single piece, and I use various techniques to create my work spanning from appropriation, capturing original footage and sound, and practicing stop-motion and animation techniques. The installation aspect of my work often involves a three-wall projection room, utilizing the open space for the physical parts of the piece such as props, seating, or the ideal viewing space. My piece, Happy Birthdays!, uses three-wall projection for the appropriated video portion of the piece while viewers are encouraged to wander the room which is filled with colorful cutouts of children holding cupcakes. My most recent piece, Another Bedtime Story, is a video installation consisting of a single channel claymation film playing on a television which is nestled within the space of a "child's fort." The installation takes place within a dark room, the only light coming from the television and a small bedside table lamp, and sound coming from the piece itself and those who are viewing it. The installation is set away from where viewers enter the space, and a path of hanging clouds lead the viewers to the fort centerpiece which is filled with pillows and blankets. The physical installation of Another Bedtime Story transforms the space into a dreamy environment, a place where children find safety, nestled on the floor in soft, colorful bedding, while also touching on an eerie feeling as clouds slowly turn in empty, stagnant space, just as Happy Birthdays! morphs the setting of a celebratory "birthday party" into a morbid showcase of the death of youth.
My work, such as Happy Birthdays! and Another Bedtime Story, blends childlike aesthetic with darker, heavier themes, such as adultery, jealousy, risk-taking/choice, and death. My work has adopted a cutesy pastel color palette which is prevalent in both of these pieces, and the claymation medium within the video piece of Another Bedtime Story is often understood as appealing to the "child." I also reference the importance of time in my work, which references age, the past or future, and/or the end of a moment/era. Happy Birthdays! begins with each of the candles on the cupcakes burning, flickering to the low droning of the "Happy Birthday" song being played on the theremin. The piece ends, or dies, once the wax has melted across the desserts and the flames on the candles goes out, despite the continuation of the theremin. In Another Bedtime Story, the story as told by colorful characters never ends and never changes, continuously looping to drive home the same message over and over again, just as an adult reinforces their influence over a child. My work references time within the pieces themselves but also in terms of how an audience engages with them. The quick cuts, rich content, and limited viewing space within Another Bedtime Story leads viewers to watch the piece more than once, if not two or three times before the piece and many details are understood in their entirety. Happy Birthdays! is an active piece, and changes each moment it is "alive," allowing viewers to see something different as the piece goes on, before it resolves itself by burning out.
Though much of my work and the concepts within it are personal in their foundation, my work allows my audience to question how they see things, categorize parts of life, and how they feel about various instances in life, such as what feels good or bad, happy or sad. When my work leads viewers to question the surrounding systems and societal structures they find themselves within, my work succeeds in its ultimate purpose.