Doubt (temporary title) is a series of sculptural spaces based around the idea that our perceptions of reality are flawed and limited. The idea that we are viewing life through a dim mirror. The concept was visualized through an experiment where I filmed myself sleeping and extracted a series of abstracted forms which came to represent a series of voids. I created 5 pieces that expressed the notion of a void which could consume our entire existence. I created this transition through an exploration of materials ranging from black foam core to sand. This is a working artists’s statement for the project:
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly,…” this quote from 1st Corinthians, expresses the idea that humans have a fundamentally clouded, fractured, and limited perception of reality. We each live in our own, limited realities, going through life with blinders on. This then is the root cause of our doubt, our fear, of the unknown. Yet it is human nature to seek the unexplainable, make reason of the unreasonable, and capture infinite in a finite space. Our minds and bodies struggle to break free of our boxed in realities. To express this narrative, I turned to a necessary yet uncontrolled and unconsious part of our lives: sleep. I documented myself during an entire sleep cycle and extracted my bodies various movements. These abstracted shapes came to represent the metaphor of a void. A visual sequence emerged when I used these shapes to create a topographical void. The first piece represents our futile attempts to fill the void. It uses the metaphor of a coffin being lowered to the grave to represent the idea that no matter how hard you try the void is ever present. The notion of death as related to sleep reflected the dichotomy of eternity and temporality as well as the infinite played against the finite. The second piece alludes to the dynamic of the bed frame against our bodies. It is raised slightly above ground to reflect the image of a body in bed. The space is explored from beneath as well as from above and from within. The lack of an easily accessible entry way forces the audience to engage with the space through the act of climbing and crawling. The third piece becomes completely clear and the void is broken up by a series of divides each containing its own void. Once again the audience is forced to contort their body to fit through each divide. The fourth piece speaks to both the temporality of things as well as the fragility of our constructed realities. The final piece abandons the frame and leaves only the void, thus transitioning into formlessness. This then completes the narrative sequence moving from a consuming rigid structure to one which is nearly formless. This transition speaks to the consuming nature of our doubts
