Short video
These videos examine the relationship between the natural and built environment and the moments when the two collide by highlight simple meditative gestures – a bobbing inner tube, floating balloon, waving flag and tossed ring – that serve as surrogates for the endurance of the human spirit in the face of an indifferent nature. These unedited videos unfold in real time to recount simple, elemental moments through careful framing and patient depiction that elevate to a higher order.
Rethinking Primary Forces
When making these videos, I sought out remote environments where the raw power of nature would be on full display. I would situate my fluorescent human surrogates, often made of plastic, in majestic landscapes, setting up a struggle that would transpire before my camera. While I watched these human vs. nature battles unfold, I wondered whether the brightly colored objects would endure longer than anticipated? Might they even be victorious, despite the odds being against them? After all, nature runs on geologic time, despite how much we humans like to think we can tame its furor.
The last time I exhibited these videos was for a solo show at the Nevada Museum of Art in 2014. When asked to present them publicly again now, in the summer of 2020, I'm confident my intent, along with my metaphors, were entirely backward. These neon-colored anthropomorphic objects being thrashed around didn't represent humanity at all. Instead, they signified the fragility of nature. It's waving a distress flag imploring us to get our act together in the fight against climate change.
The planet will be here long after humanity makes it completely uninhabitable. Yet, when you hear things like how the world stopped vibrating so much at the height of the COVID shutdown, it highlights how our extreme impact on the planet could change for the better. For a minute, it seemed that the virus would force a reckoning with the cruelty of capitalism. I was hoping that we simultaneously address climate change as they are both so obviously intertwined. As we begin to see what a post-pandemic world is looking like, I remain optimistic that we will do the right thing.