Longing is a state that is usually satiated or conquered rather than embraced or examined. Yet in the untraceable distances between knowing and not knowing, having and not having, and seeing and being blind, I find an uncomfortable beauty. It is this space between one’s self and the thing one desires that is a central concern in my practice.

My research strategy is one of informed inquiry, investigating specific histories, contexts and materials in relationship to feminine identity and my personal understandings and experiences of the world around me. My current installation, video and performance based work navigates these ideas through three core areas of interest: the architecture of viewing, the landscape as a set for human drama and the use of substance as a rich source for meaning.

Moving images, illuminated surfaces and live bodies elicit a unique psychological and physiological response relative to static objects. My work interrogates the architecture of viewing through examining the way technology, be it a projected image, a screen, the Internet, or a simple window frame can become a distinct interface for the Viewer to engage with the work.

In sculptural video installations I often project the moving image on and over objects to visually blend the tangible world of objects with the ephemeral world of video. For example: video of a tornado on a horizon is projected in a teacup and white-gloved hands sifting through black soil are projected to fit the pages of an open book. in these works I connect the narrative dimensions of the moving image with the material conditions of the domestic object to form new narrative perceptions that explore the relationships we have with everyday objects and the histories embedded within them.

Through live performance new opportunities for intimate engagement are created and with each piece a unique possibility for encountering the viewer is formed. Recent performances have taken place in both traditional and nontraditional venues, incorporating and responding to sites such as a hotel room, a city bus, an abandoned storefront, and the Internet in addition to traditional gallery or museum spaces. Each project is conceived in specific relation to its site and audience to reflect and produce cultural, historical and political meanings that go beyond a singular understanding or discipline.

Landscape is used both as material and context in works. Through visually combining the landscape with objects in sculptural video works and the body in performance works I explore landscape as a backdrop to human drama, as a stage set is to a play to examine the relationships between landscape/time, landscape/nostalgia, landscape/purity and landscape/ body.

Familiar materials and found objects are used as a way to understand substance and context as the progenitors of meaning in a work. Salt, paraffin wax, books, ceramic, dirt, oil and milk are used in my works to evoke notions of preservation in domestic, institutional and cultural realms. These materials used in installations, videos and performances question traditional expectations of materials while revealing the complicated relationships between the social and psychological dimensions of material conditions and physical circumstances.

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