Reflective Space: A Response to Environment Through Process and Performance
Date
2020-07-06
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Abstract
Throughout my thesis work, I created three pieces that incorporate the themes of reflection, transformation, and embodiment of space. The first sculptural piece I address is titled Absence. This work was a response to my personal experience with PTSD, which resulted in a tangible visualization of the concept through the process of material manipulation. In this discussion I bring up key points of my material processes, and how I halt the transformation of materiality right to the border of recognition and unrecognition. The next section includes a discussion of my experiential installation titled Isolation. This piece explores the presence and feeling of isolation and confinement during the COVID-19 global pandemic, and invites the viewer to reflect on their own personal connection to the space and theme. Constructed of found branches of trees native to New Jersey, this choice of material bridges the emotional experience of isolation to the physical location in which I experienced it. This work further acts as a mirror and an emotional visualization of the reality in which it was created. My final piece was a performance art piece titled 6 Feet Apart, which was created in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. This performance took place at my home in New Jersey and lasted for a duration of two hours. Touching upon the reality of social distancing and its impact in an enclosed space, I invited my entire family to perform with me. 6 Feet Apart served as a reflection of the new performance we must take on in our daily lives in quarantine, and brings light to how our movement and existence have been altered throughout this process. Exploring the common thread of reflection, each of these pieces explores themes of memory, transformation, and environment in three distinctive art forms. In my thesis I refer back to previous works to ground concepts and points in my artistic process. Additionally, I reference and discuss the works of contemporary artists Cornelia Parker and Leonardo Drew, along with postmodern dance performer/choreographer Trisha Brown.
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studio art, art studio, sculpture, installation art, performance art, COVID-19 art, environmental art, environment, repurposed materials, found objects