TRACES, 1991
PLAYBACK, 1992
COLLECTED VISIONS I, 1993
Slide/Sound Installations
TRACES is a 10 projector slide installation spanning two connected rooms. In an 8-minute repeating sequence, family images slowly dissolve into each other. In the other sequence, some of the same family images appear, but are rearranged and intercut with significant media images since World War II (such as the Kennedy assassinations, Civil Right's marches, Vietnam, the Holocaust.) In the projected pools on the floor, images of a woman swimmer are continuously dissolving into each other so it appears that she is constantly swimming laps. In the far corner of the second gallery, a hand turns pages of three family photo albums in a twenty minute repeating sequence. A sound loop of rippling water plays continuously.
PLAYBACK is a 5 projector slide and sound installation that continues to explore the relationship between my family snapshots and media imagery. A 15-minute sequence of 120 slides covering an entire wall is arranged chronologically using imagery from World War II to the Los Angeles riots. Included are images from the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, the 1960s civil rights and anti-war marches and protests, the 1970s hostage kidnappings, and the Gulf War. My family's images from the same periods are interwoven with this media imagery using dissolves of varying lengths. A children's wading pool sits on the floor with continuously dissolving images of children jumping into a pool projected into it. For the sound component, live radio is used. Pre-programmed stations are scanned alternating between music, news, and talk shows-the audio equivalents of he types of imagery used.
COLLECTED VISIONS I is the first iteration of my Collected Visions project. It is a three part slide and music installation that examines the representation of women and girls in family photographs. The photographs were collected from approximately 100 women from varied backgrounds and different generations. Sections 1 and 2 are 10-minute sequences examining the representation of girlhood and the experience of coming of age. Subtleties of gaze and gesture become clues for how girls find their voices, and the layering of images within and between sequences emphasizes the complexities of representation. In Part I, a woman's hands holding open books about women (such as A Room of One's Own, Little Women, and Writing a Woman's Life) are superimposed over many of the images. Simultaneously, Section 3 unfolds in an opposing corner with a 20-minute chronological sequence of girls standing before the camera from age one through adolescence. Composer Elizabeth Brown created a score for flute, glass harmonica, cello and viola d'amore. It is the first of my 3 part Collected Visions project.
