My work investigates the merits of the cultural institution as an authoritative source for the retelling of the past. Museums use objects and artifacts to convey history, but the methods they employ are often overlooked. I use sculpture, painting, installation, and video to reenact and subvert established histories in order to create alternative narratives. I am particularly interested in the decorative arts, which I use as a medium between contemporary art and common, everyday objects. My practice is research-based, drawing both from the language typically used to convey history, as well as specific locations and their histories. When reading historical texts, I am drawn to language that is convoluted, colored, overstated – language that might betray inaccuracy or an ulterior motive. The unreliable narrator confronts us often; this concept is featured in my video work and embodied in a character I refer to as a “misguided tourguide.” This character, an amateur docent, is a self-conscious ingénue with a questionable grasp of fact. She represents an exploration of flawed attempts to disseminate history.
While conducting research for site-specific projects, I gather fragments of history through various reliable and unreliable sources. Beginning with conspicuous details, I make connections to create a history culled from the gaps of the larger narrative. I make historical associations and fictional projections until several layers of meaning are implicated within one new object. This process is a reaction to the notions of expertise and comprehensive encyclopedic knowledge that are inherently embedded within museological concerns.
Much of my work is a direct response to the physical museum space and the feelings of longing, curiosity, acquisitiveness, and alienation that it can inspire. While researching, I regularly overhear visitors announcing their desires to own something from a period room; I often empathize. Audience interaction plays an essential role in the museum structure, and therefore in my work. It gives context to the finished installation and functions as a form of research – unexpected visitor responses can instigate new projects. The public’s reaction is a reminder that the perception of history is a responsibility shared by all. By situating myself in the gaps between curator, object, and audience, I question each participant’s awareness when giving or receiving information and suggest that the aesthetic appreciation of objects is just as important as the history they are forced to convey.