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| 180° (Of Justification) __ 1998 Insects, pigment, video equipment, steel & glass 6 x 21 x 15 feet |
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This installation is an experiment based on our need to justify our actions and is embedded in our own personal morality. The installation is composed of 2 video monitors, each placed at the end of a 3 foot steel pipe opposite each other. Each video runs for two hours and is a view looking straight down into a jar. The first video begins with blue pigment being placed into a jar followed by a live cicada. The second video begins the same as the first except in this situation orange pigment is put into the jar and a cicada killer is placed into the pigment.
Throughout both recordings I sat for two hours and wrote down my emotions as the helpless insects struggled to their deaths. My response to the events describes or reveals many conflicting emotions humans experience as we perceive a living form struggling to preserve itself. Our justification to take a life, whether it is an insect or a mammal becomes based on issues of our perception and established norms. The results of our actions are rooted in our own needs and or lack of concern. On the opposite axis to the video images are the actual victims of the recordings, placed in glass cases.
Throughout both recordings I sat for two hours and wrote down my emotions as the helpless insects struggled to their deaths. My response to the events describes or reveals many conflicting emotions humans experience as we perceive a living form struggling to preserve itself. Our justification to take a life, whether it is an insect or a mammal becomes based on issues of our perception and established norms. The results of our actions are rooted in our own needs and or lack of concern. On the opposite axis to the video images are the actual victims of the recordings, placed in glass cases.