Signs of Life
Artist Statement
There are specific rules within our natural world, basic structures that hold everything together. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west every day, most working people work a 9-5 job for most of the week, with a small break on the weekends. I get bored with these conventions. I want to challenge them. In my installations and sculptural works, I make my own objects, rules, and worlds parallel to the one we live in, but off. I think of my projects as what ifs; what if walls could heal themselves like living creatures? What if I was raised differently? What if I started my own religion?
I love making absurd little things with no functional purpose. How can I inject a little bit of absurdity into the mundane? Can I bring back the child-like sense of wonder I value so much?
Project Statement
After being sent home from Smith due to the pandemic, I noticed the drastic changes in my neighborhood. People are usually pretty friendly, with a community of young families, long-time residents, and elderly folks. Other than the sounds of children playing and lawnmowers, it’s quiet. Now, I feel like I never see anyone. People are cold and distant at best. The grocery stores are a nightmare; the employees look dead tired, no one speaks to each other, and if you accidentally get too close to someone, you are risking a fight.
Where is everyone? Through this project, I wanted to start a community-based project that anyone could participate in. I was thinking a lot about signs of hope and guidance in times of darkness, and I decided to use stars. I asked residents of my neighborhood via the website nextdoor.com, a platform similar to Facebook as a way of communicating with neighbors. This website is primarily used by suburban moms to advertise local events or complain about noise. I instructed my neighbors willing to participate to put a star outside their house in a visible place as a sign of life. Stars have been used as guiding tools, like the North star, and stars can provide sources of energy. The recipe for life as we know it are chemistry, water, and energy. Energy can be derived from a star like our sun. If everyone put stars outside, we would form a community constellation with more energy than ever. I do not know how many people will participate in the project, but I wanted to throw it out there as a way of inserting mundane into the absurdity of this situation. None of this is normal, but adding some structure into the world has been helpful to me.
Project Proposal:
Lately, the streets have been so empty. I rarely hear children outside playing, rarely see cars go by, rarely encounter people outside of my household.
Where is everyone?
I am proposing a new way of communicating. A way of showing life from within the walls of our houses. One of the key ingredients for life is energy, usually from something like the Sun that our planet orbits.
Put a star outside your front door, or in a spot that is visible, as a sign of life in a time of fear and confusion.
They can be any size, any material, just make it visible. It would be lovely if they were handmade, any and all artistic abilities welcome!
I am hoping that soon, our collection of stars will form a community constellation.
Poster created to advertise project.
Screen shot of post on nextdoor.com