Ascend, 2019, BFA Final Show, Provo, UT

I am intrigued by the failures and the successes to connect, to build peace as individuals and social groups with others. The attempt to connect is simultaneously crucial though sometimes seemingly futile. Much of my practice is centered around this interest in connections, or the lack thereof, usually in the community, geopolitics, and history. This series of videos approaches the same idea but in the context of interpersonal relationships, specifically between my husband and me. I am loyal to the reality of our experience in making these works. There is a general tone of spontaneity and improvisation that emphasizes the process of trying.

During the process of installing and viewing the work in the house, the purpose to show the work in the house became more clear. It is the work’s natural environment, which was the main motivation in the decision to show the work there. As the location for the work, the house became less a gallery for the show and more a literal context for the performances. Both physically and socially, the house with the videos began to function more as an installation than a location for the work alone. 

The result was more intimate than we anticipated and to the nature of the work, an effective emotional context for the consideration of the forms and concepts. The house brought a specificity that was literal and real to our life. Sometimes it was because the work was shown where it was made, but more generally it is because it is in the home, our private space, that so much of these relational themes — unity, effort, learning, struggle, making etc. — are worked out.