Anthropocene: Installation

Installation work exists in harmony within the space it occupies, conveying a larger message to viewers.

Although the original plan was to create and place this installation within the basement floors of the Birdsell Mansion, located in South Bend, Indiana, changes were made when the art venue was forced to close down due to fire safety hazards. The installation was moved to a studio room within Riley Building, the Art, Art History, and Design Building at the University of Notre Dame. I had to possess flexibility in my original project designs and was creative in the manner I hung the lightbulbs in front of my piece: from rusty pipes on the upper ceiling of the studio classroom. Later, it was placed at the The Notre Dame Center for Arts & Culture and the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center for an exhibition entitled "Intro", which featured artworks created with the topic of community engagement or community awareness. My installation was on display from February 2017 - May 2017 for public viewers.

Artist statement

Anthropocene: (adj) relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. My piece gives homage to the wildlife local to South Bend and also the energy that the St. Joseph’s River has given the city through the use of turbines. I wish to convey that the relationship between human activity of industrialization and the natural landscape is dualistic. Just as the St. Joseph’s River affects mankind by supplying areas in South Bend with electricity (specifically, the Commerce Center), the human race also affects the river and other aspects of local wildlife, specifically Indiana’s state bird (cardinal), state butterfly (monarch), and native deer, by encroaching on their respective environments.

With today’s modernizing world and the increasing presence of pollution, deforestation, and other detrimental effects to the environment, I want to make a statement with this piece illustrating how nature gives back to us, and why we should be more cognizant of our everyday actions that could potentially harm the beauty of the world around us. By contrasting natural elements like the deer, cardinals, branches, butterfly wings, and wood with manmade electrical technologies such as the copper wiring and light bulbs, I am able to depict the delicacy and complexity of the relationship between the South Bend ecosystem and the human race that has formed as a result of industrialization.