Sheer fabric, Video Projection, Tripod, 2023
During my time at the Playa Summer Lake residency in Southern Oregon, I created a data-driven, code-generated video titled Playa: A Geomorphic Ramble. I walked from my cabin, through the grass, and out to the increasingly muddy, windy lake while holding a camera and a sensor – both aimed at the passing ground. I collaged the recorded walk and abstracted data visualizations with movement inspired by the bright, open, vast landscape. In the projection-mapped installation, a sheer fabric screen spans across a tree and a tripod- signaling that this work is a careful collaboration between the natural and the technological in process, location, and composition. By creating code-generated video focused on research about walking and data collection, I bring attention to the act of walking through a landscape, sensing the world around you, and tuning into your body.
Acrylic, Steel, Magnifying Loupe, 8x10x2in, 2022
In this work, I manipulate scale to challenge the conventional hierarchy among micro-organisms, humans, and the land. The acrylic plate, inspired by petri dishes, has engraved topographic lines from my neighborhood with gaps populated by embedded stainless steel charms. By presenting microscopic life forms as larger than my body silhouettes, I reject anthropocentrism. With the addition of an optical loupe, I invite viewers to zoom in to see the surface details, encouraging contemplation of an alternative viewpoint. In Thomas Zummer's essay, "Projection and Dis/embodiment: Genealogies of the Virtual," he writes that the first scientists to use an electron microscope felt immersed in an "alien landscape" as a bodily experience, seeing "invisible topographies" in their samples. I hope viewers, through the magnifying lens, find themselves similarly embodying space with the micro-organisms- fostering newfound empathy for beings of all sizes.
Code-generated video, 2022
In this video, I utilize data-driven technologies juxtaposed with somatic-based movements rooted in mind-body connection. By creating code-generated video focused on research about walking and data- visualization, I bring attention to the act of walking through a landscape, sensing the world around you, and tuning into your body. While data collection and sensing through the body are usually not associated, displaying both equally highlights both as valuable and informative. I am exploring notions about information by presenting empirically gathered sensor data, video, and movement driven by the sensation and landscape. Is a truer, more complete picture composed by not just showing the landscape, but by moving through the landscape, sensing the atmosphere and body with sensors, and bringing awareness to movement in the mind and body?
Acrylic, Metal, Stripped Wire Ends, Video, 2020
Images Courtesy of Jonathan Bagby
There is a severe lack of feminine perspectives in the fields of computing and fabrication. This work articulates aspects of my experience being feminine-presenting in these pervasively male-dominated fields, using remnants of my machine shop labor including acrylic off-cuts and metal shavings. The juxtaposition of these industrial materials with my video performance create a powerful statement about the intersection of gender, identity, and technology. By reclaiming these materials, I aim to assert my presence – being femme and queer in the fields of computing and fabrication, where my existence is often othered and erased.
