With Olivia Andrews, Kiyomi Taylor and Clara Lu
The Commons
2016

I’ll make a haven for myself
A selective environment
Things from my past, things I love, things I need
I’ll leave in just enough of the bad so that it seems real, a foul smell, a wasp or two
They will be in perfect balance so there is
no waste
And no loss
Or there is loss but there is (artificial) gain
so no pain?
A finite amount of water, a light source, a seed
Sealed off
At equilibrium, a symbiosis

Our exhibition pinpoints the universal urgency of reconciling our perceived loss of nature, loss of home, loss of family, and loss of identity. Preservation and Parafiction arrives at a time when global warming, distance from home and alienation from our origins is at the forefront of our minds as we enter adulthood. We aim to examine this feeling of disintegration, we feel the impending doom of permanent loss so we must attempt to preserve what fragments might be left and rebuild our environments.

We are four artists working across a variety of mediums including installation, paintings, drawing and collage. Our exhibition is center around a conservatory. We will build a geodesic dome, an inflatable tent, a plastic bubble, we filled it with plants and music, found objects, things we love and want to keep safe. Large enough for five to ten people, we huddle together, play games, meditate and connect to ourselves and with each other, sheltered and disconnected from the outside. Surrounding this haven we have flat works and projections of our lost treasures. They are shrines to past relationships, to the nostalgic grip of home and heritage, to the manmade and natural world, grasping at ourselves as we affect and are affected by our varied environments.