The Architecture of Migration, A Semester at Sea, and Morton’s Salt: Burnout all reference the psychology of personal and cultural migration a well as issues of mobility and consumerism in our post-industrial era.
The installation, A Semester at Sea, created for Maharishi International University in 2004, presents a five-foot long replica of a sailing ship painstakingly hand fabricated completely from burnt wood matchsticks. The ship was created by a school janitor and later given to me. On the floor surrounding the ship (from which a small pool of water oozes), are smaller artist made tables covered with hand sew ruffled metal tablecloths, each housing a small indented central pool of liquid from which a tiny metal book or a large cabbage emerges. The space is dimly light so the glossy grey tiled floor appears to be water. In one corner The Architecture of Migration towers above the scene reading from it’s various rotating texts.
Morton’s Salt: Burnout is a smaller installation from 2004. The piece centers around a small handmade Mexican wax candle (in the shape of a rose and referencing my mother) burns while rotating on a motorized disc on the wall. On the floor below, from my father’s childhood toys, is a miniature doll-sized fainting (psychiatrist’s) couch on wheel. Two tiny video monitors show close-ups of the same burning melting candle on the wall and a detail of two hands clapping. The video monitors appear to activate the floral rose-patterned fabric covering the couch. Nearby ceramic bisque-fired Morton’s Salt Girls (joined at the hip and meant to refer to my sister and I) stare at a large pool of white liquid.