HOAX, HEROIC + OTHER DREAMS
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Rockland, Maine
Exhibition Text:
How do we confront what climate strategist Jorgen Randers calls “the burden of ‘Big Grief,’” when nature is increasingly destroyed around us? The artists in Melt Down present evidence of the undeniable impact of climate change on the fragile environments of the Arctic and Antarctic. As Bruce Brown, exhibition curator states, “With increasing frequency Maine artists of all disciplines are traveling to the Arctic and Antarctic to study, observe and record the effects of climate change. Melt Down includes stunning photographs and videos by ten distinguished Maine artists whose work calls attention to one of the major ecological issues of our time.”
Through their experiences recording and responding to the visible and visceral markers of irrefutable change, they bring these physically remote places and the compelling need for action to a wider audience. Their work provides a route for inspiring awareness and response when overwhelming data and science have failed to motivate.
Hoax, Heroic: Egocentric Magics Creepin’ on Your Socials in Blue (Frozen Networks) or How A Place Thinks About Another Place, 2019
12 Photographs / 38x30 (each) // Archival Pigment Print from Medium Format Negative Under Blue Cast Acrylic with Blue Metal Frame
4 Laser-cut acrylic stand offs / ~ 28x20 / Blue Acrylic
Twelve images under blue-plexi made from photo negatives captured in the Arctic. Some images are unmanipulated, some have been altered digitally through sampling that reference gestures made with a computer mouse. In four of the twelve works, I laser cut lines sourced from scientific graphs about the transference of light through ice. Those negative spaces were turned into their own objects that protruded from the wall. Next to the installation, an information sheet asked the viewer to call, 207-806-5204. The caller heard: “Perhaps we are frozen in fear. Stuck in place to avoid being seen. But our mother, she can no longer hide. So, she fights. She melts to save herself. How does the Arctic make you feel?” After the tone, participants could record a message.
Other Dreams of the Polar Ice as a Surface to Scroll Infinitely, 2019
Video, Arctic Sleep Memory Foam, Wood, Video Paint
~4' x 5' x 3'
A blue armature shaped to reference historical iceboxes has a curved piece of “Arctic Sleep” blue memory foam draped over its form. Upon the foam is a curved white screen showing a looped 10-minute video with a soundtrack composed from the iPhone sound library and field recordings made in Svalbard. The video goes through several scenes including footage captured in the Arctic, blood cells exploding from the introduction of glacier water, and infrared landscapes falling through space.
