Enamelware, water, light, wood
Installed at the Museum at Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX
Grappling with the problem of return upon departing the field portion of the Land Arts program, and pondering Ann Reynold’s eponymous essay, I created an installation that provided a visual represenation of memory and site. Within the Texas Tech University art gallery, I displayed blue enamel vessels of varying diameters embedded in a platform, and filled with water. While in the field, the most basic needs, like water, sleep, food, become markers of duration. It was important to me that water be present in this installation, offering a tangible representation of time. The layout of the vessels corresponded to the locations of sites visited during the program, and the diameter of the containers correlated to the number of days spent at each environment. Using parallel light rays to mimic the force of the sun, I bounced the light off of the water, casting reflections onto the gallery wall itself. Creating a ghost of these vessels, which themselves are physical manifestations of memories of place, succeeded in honoring the sense of loss that is inherent to the experience of site-specificity. Over time the water slowly evaporated, becoming unintelligible until refilled and renewed.
