The Installation

The Video in the Box

     The first piece is a series of nude photos that I turned into a video.  The photos were made larger than the video screen and moved about the screen in the video to give the sense of motion or wandering eyes.  The video was contained inside of a black box with a keyhole on the front which you had to kneel to look through to see the video.  You had to put on head phones to hear the audio.  My intention was to show that this is something very secret, you would not see this nor hear what she has to say unless you were spying on her in her most intimate setting. It is also to put the viewer in a submissive state where they are interacting with the artwork and hopefully feeling uncomfortable.  If I can evoke discomfort in the viewer then I can also evoke empathy from the viewer for the girl in the video since what she is feeling is very clearly discomfort; though of a slightly different nature.  I had the same intention for the miniature boxes with the still images from the video.


    The second part of the installation is large scale pixelated photos and a large scale video.  The video is of a woman fully clothed who is supposed to be ambiguous, possibly she is the same girl from the other video.  This woman is not showing her discomfort however, she seems quite confident and very proud of her clothes and the things she uses to make herself feel more comfortable.  The video and the photos are supposed to represent what she is willing to show people and how stark a contrast it is from how she really feels inside.  The obnoxious font was chosen because often the overcompensation we express to feel more confident has the same effect. The photos are pixelated for many reasons, I will touch on two.  One, I want to draw the viewer away from the photo because metaphorically you are not close to her and who she really is.  Two, by pixelating the photo she is no longer an individual human being, she is just some woman, any woman.

The Projected Video

      The installation started in Florence, Italy.  This was when I first made the “small” or “video in the box” to the right.  It was part of a group exhibition called presence.  I would say my installation was more about a hidden presence- the presence of a very nasty voice in your head telling you that you are inadequate.  A voice saying you are ugly or fat or less than another person.   When I was deciding how to display my work I decided I didn’t want people casually walking by it.  I wanted people to stop and involve themselves with the video.  That is why the video was played inside of a box.  I wanted people to understand that they were looking inside at something you wouldn’t necessarily notice in day to day encounters.  The installation took place in a small art gallery south of the Arno River in Florence, Italy and was a success among its viewers.  I knew I wanted to add to it and continue to make the installation grow when I returned to the US.  In the second installation.  I had two videos and 12 photographs along with a dramatic entrance. 


      When you walked into the installation you were in a hallway of sorts.  There was a black plastic runner for you to walk on and on the sides of it were pieces of white paper with quotes from real people about their struggle with self confidence.  The hall was dark and the quotes were lit up by electric luminaries.  I chose luminaries because of the ties to quiet and thoughtfulness that they carry.  Luminaries also are a strong symbol of reflection and the goal was to have the viewers reflect on their own insecurities and to empathize with people who are struggling with physical insecurities.


      At the end of the hall you entered the greenhouse which was also dark because the installation only took place at night.  Directly in front of you was the “Large” video projected onto a white screen, to the left hanging were 4x6 ft pixelated pictures from the video.  The runner to walk on was placed far away from the video and the photos to be physically distant as they are metaphorically distant.


      To the right of the video was a hanging wall of black plastic.  If you followed the runner to go around it you would first come to a row of small black boxes with key holes on the front.  Inside of the boxes were the images from the “small video”  The runner was close to the boxes and you had to kneel or squat to view the photos because I wanted you to be physically and metaphorically close to these images.  At the end of the runner was a larger box with a keyhole on the front that contained the “small” video displayed in the right hand column.


Above to the right is a photo of me with the large photos in the installation.


I am currently working on another installation.  This installation will be of a much different nature so stay tuned for something new!


If you have any questions feel free to email me and ask!


Thank you,

JQ