Cycles

2023

Two channel video installation [3:54]

Created while in residence at Santa Fe Art Institute

These two performances were created out of a desire to understand the human capacity for change. Within the context of the individual mind, the structure of the cycle is a visual representation of repetitive thought patterns, or depressive "spiraling;" it can also reflect the systemic habituation of so many modern human behaviors that we continue to indulge in, despite knowing their destructive impact. At the same time, circular pathways offer a way towards reconciliation: the labyrinth, in which it is impossible to get lost, is a space for spiritual solace and reflection, while a circular, seasonal understanding of growth is far more sustainable than the capitalistic model of limitless expansion.

For the outdoor portion of the piece, I was particularly interested in what it means to be rooted in a specificity of place -- rejecting the colonialist mindset of discarding that which is no longer new or useful -- and how that understanding, built over generational repetition and experience, might offer a different way to treat with the land. By walking barefoot on the desert ground, I wanted to create a direct and unmediated connection with the landscape, in which moving with care becomes necessary for survival, and survival a mutual endeavor. The physical pain of the motion became an empathetic conduit for the historical violence that had been enacted on and to the site, from the displacement of the Tewa people, to the Santa Fe Internment Camp of Japanese Americans during WWII, to the oil rigging and fracking that continues in NM today.