Alicia Escott. Read over Video Chat. Run Time. 4 min 19 sec
I reject any glorification of the current situation as the earth healing itself or passing judgement. This work does though look at the interconnectedness of things and how, the effects of this shutdown, though the worst way to create change can be a catalyst for new ideas to grab hold. Rather will be a catalyst, ad it is our job as image makers to put forward the images of the best possible outcomes from this situation.
Letters Sent Sometime After the Continents Separated is and ongoing body of work begun in 2011 consisting of letters written to extinct species in which I address the animal as a long lost lover, and try to catch them up on what has happened since they have been gone. I try to tell them about the internet and about rock and roll music, and that I miss them.
The aim of this work is to look at romance in a geologic time scale, collapsing the lineage of evolution, thereby illustrating evolution. Retelling the stories of our civilization, most specifically referencing the time since the Industrial Revolution, but also longing nostalgically for a time when we were all one species. While the focus has been extinction, that is looked at very broadly and the series includes letters to Neandertal, Small pox, the LUCA, and letters that deal with the future and past in nonlinear ways. The letters are usually mailed to recipients private homes as a way of experiencing work in a more intimate setting, circumventing a gallery or museum. Both the letters and the Letters read over video chat employ my vulnerability as a means of discussing radical topics and revisions of history.