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Video Art
Locating Truth On Screen

There is a truth to the artifacts of the past, and yet it is not a whole truth.  It is merely a link to the person we once were and nostalgia for the moments that are long gone.  I consider dreams and memories as much a remnant of the past as any physical object.

The issue of the public and the private is inherent in my decision to reveal more of myself in my artwork.  I hope to inspire dialogue about how we develop an identity, relate to other people, and experience memories of this as we age.  My culminating senior work utilizes very private, personal elements to explore a universal human experience.  I have accepted creating and showing my art as part of my identity, even if it makes me more vulnerable to others.

I am interested in installation art and bringing artwork into the public sphere to include people outside of the art community. However, I do not want to write the gallery off; I want to make people feel welcome once they are within a gallery. By setting up a private living room in a public art gallery, I simultaneously reference our personal experiences of watching TV at home and provide a more intimate, comfortable viewing experience for my audience.

My video work employs surrealistic imagery to convey a mood or tone separate from the forms of feature films or documentaries.  When I create my video pieces, I want viewers to experience watching something on screen as a dreamlike consciousness, and when they stop watching, “wake up” from being seduced by the moving image.  In the condition of viewing something on screen, our body physically exists in real time, but our mind is elsewhere and not consciously thinking about what we are doing or where we are, much like dreaming.

This video piece is as much about being uncomfortable with reaching adulthood, as it is about being uncomfortable with exposing myself in my art. The way my best friend of ten years and I present ourselves for scrutiny in this piece is both a metaphor for meeting social standards and, as we are both art students, trying to appeal to our audience. 

My installation holds my past, my dreams, my memories, and my future.  It is also my present, and my anxiety about clinging to a past and making the most of my future.  It represents my identity, but it is not my identity. It is a distorted mirror, honesty and lies, simultaneously.  It is my interaction with others, both publicly as an artist and privately as an individual.  It is there because of me, but for you.