tracing the veer

two-channel video, four-channel audio, expanded polystyrene foam, urethane acrylic, automotive paint, wood, sandbags
dimensions & media run-time variable
2019/2023

Related Series: dissonant ethnography

The iterative installation consists of a multi-channel video projection with four-channel audio, presented in varying spatial configurations. At the Honolulu Museum of Art, the work was arranged on staggered, parallel platforms constructed from exposed plywood and visible hardware. At the center of the installation—interrupting the natural flow of movement through the gallery—stood a seven-part sculpture composed of enlarged cylindrical audio engravings derived from personal archives of intergenerational conversations among a grandmother, mother, and child.

Reproduced in expanded foam and positioned as an obstacle within the space, the sculptural elements evoke cinematic or theatrical set pieces. Reinforced with raw plywood and sandbags, their construction emphasizes the staged and mediated nature of the viewing environment. These intentionally opaque forms seek to problematize the presumed authority of ethnography by foregrounding the conditions of access and the viewer’s presence within the installation.

By eliminating any ideal vantage point for viewing the projections—whose imagery is already partially obscured through illegible reproductions—the installation compels viewers to confront their own physical interruption of the media as they move through the space.

A second iteration of the installation was presented in 2023 at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, curated by Director of Exhibitions Iris Williamson.