Do They Make a Sound / Spring Break Art Fair / 2020
We are all familiar with the saying "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” It is a philosophical thought experiment that raises question regarding observation and perception. If an event occurs, and no one is there to witness it, did it occur. If a male and female engage in activity, and no one else is around to witness, and both stories diverge, who do we believe? If preponderance of circumstances show that the male is more believable, who are the women who come forward and what do we as a society do to those women- believe them, disbelieve, mock, celebrate? The last year has been filled with more “me-too” movements. Voices of women actually making that sound.
My work has always focused on female form. The trees to me not only represent a playful landscape of women…a new archetype for women...literally a world teaming with women. But there’s also a fragility to the forest and the trees. There’s winds that blow, there are storms. What happens when you get knocked off the tree, what happens during the fall?
In this forest something is amiss. The trees are being vandalized. Instead of carving love notes into trees, or initials with heart shapes, we have been bombarded with confusion and chaos. Things that men say to women. Things that women say to men. Things that men think women think. Thoughts that women hate men to think. Things women think about themselves. Insecurities. Objectification. Empowerment. Gender equality. Mysogeny. Idealization. The excesses of these conversations spill over with anxieties and divisions as the pendulum swings too far one way, than too far the next way, with middle ground being a confusing obscure pasture. The quotes used in the installation are a mixed bag of Trumpisms, quotes from victims of Weinstein or Bill Cosby, quotes from poetry and romance novels, quotes from pornographic comic books, and quotes directly taken from the artists diaries that span decades.
In this forest, if a tree falls, it does make a sound. A lot of sounds. A multitude of sounds. But which voices do you hear?
