My work revolves around the seeming contradiction between inner and outer life, which results in materialism, superficiality, and other dysfunctions of the psyche. Reformation, my project for the Imaging Energy online group exhibition, consists of a video and two photographs documenting the surprising transformation of a keepsake. The object seems to be destroyed, but returns, transformed by work and heat. The symbolism is borrowed from the 1st law of thermodynamics—that energy can be transformed, changed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.
Can energy and memory be similarly linked in the idea of transformation—with some things being lost and some retained? In my case, I needed to discard many inherited collectibles not necessary in my life and usurping my needs for space. So many people love to collect these things, collections get handed down, considerable time and energy goes into wrapping, storing, packing, and unpacking them. How much do we really need and what, in my case, would it take to elevate the state of one keepsake to truly symbolize my attachment and leave the rest behind? What happens to people who can’t separate from their things and how does that impact the world and society? This project was an opportunity to examine my relationship to these commercially manufactured items and icons, and their impact. If flip side of love is hate, and creation is destruction: where do our objects exist on that continuum? We love our things while driving the economy and the planet to the brink.
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