Biography
The inspiration for my current series struck me as I watched how people interacted with what became the first piece of the series, “Frailty”. I purposely removed pieces of the salmon and placed them on the pedestal, only to find that the pieces had been replaced each time I entered the gallery. I began to wonder what compelled people to interact with the piece. I thought of how this related to the human psyche: people have a tendency to finish what is incomplete and to fix what is broken. Frailty is meant to be about the degradation of the salmons’ habitat caused by anthropogenic interferences which weakens streams and contaminates fresh waters. However, the use of magnets gave the piece a sense of playfulness and satisfied the human need to mend what is broken.
Following this piece, I created a series of species that can be found on the IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature) that follows the same mode as the salmon; a combination of wood and steel bonded together with magnets. I consider the physical characteristics of the species, its color, skeletal structure, texture and most importantly, causes and/or solutions to revive the species. They are, in a sense, broken, which creates an inherent need for human repair. As I continue with this series, I find myself creating models of devastation to instill a feeling of anxiousness in my viewers. Each piece appears to be in distress, created with broken wood, exposed magnets and steel frames. I am also interested in lessening the interaction capabilities of some of my work so that I may accentuate its stability, frailty, or fortification.
