This building was previously a nursing home; a place where people come before death. When I first came into the space, I immediately noticed the veneer (a thin decorative covering): wood paneling, dropped ceiling, and carpet. It made me long for something natural and alive. I began searching the outside grounds to find natural elements to bring inside. However, everything that I found outside was equally disconnected from the space. I found cigarettes, straws, and processed food trash. These things all evoke a different kind of veneer. They are the things that we use to cover sadness, anxiety, and depression.
The only nature that I found on the property was isolated plants and trees and I began to think about how trees in a forest, are part of an entire underground network of roots and mycelium. If a tree is attacked by a parasite, other trees will send help to the affected tree. The trees on these grounds seem to mimic the people and the space inside the building. The rooms, the plants, and the people are disconnected. My work is a commentary on this isolation and disconnection, maybe the abortive attempts of a once connected entity separated and being forced to turn in on itself in its enforced isolation.
I used the plastic blinds from the windows in the room to create a root-like structure that is bound by the walls, much like a potted plant that has outgrown its space or a person who is confined in a room.
The light that viewers bring into the space creates shadows that cover the walls. The shadows will move with the light of the viewer. This gives the space life, connection, and a network.
The only nature that I found on the property was isolated plants and trees and I began to think about how trees in a forest, are part of an entire underground network of roots and mycelium. If a tree is attacked by a parasite, other trees will send help to the affected tree. The trees on these grounds seem to mimic the people and the space inside the building. The rooms, the plants, and the people are disconnected. My work is a commentary on this isolation and disconnection, maybe the abortive attempts of a once connected entity separated and being forced to turn in on itself in its enforced isolation.
I used the plastic blinds from the windows in the room to create a root-like structure that is bound by the walls, much like a potted plant that has outgrown its space or a person who is confined in a room.
The light that viewers bring into the space creates shadows that cover the walls. The shadows will move with the light of the viewer. This gives the space life, connection, and a network.