clepsydra reimagines this ancient timekeeping mechanism in modern materials. An ancient time-measuring device, a clepsydra functions by measuring the flow of water from one chamber into another. Used around the world in many iterations, a clepsydra (the ancient Greek name) was originally designed to be independent from that which was visible or invisible because of shifting weather and atmospheric conditions (i.e. sun, moon, stars clouded over). A water clock relies on the interaction of gravity, pressure, and geometry.
clepsydra relies on water collected from the harbor in which Governors Island is located. Installed within the WoWhaus, Clepsydra measures the passage of twelve hours. As the water drips from the top chamber to the bottom, drawings incised into plexiglass emerge, refract, disappear, and layer onto each other.
Fall (2021), a split channel video, combines animation and text to meditate on time, loss, gravity, and breath. The stop-motion animation comprises over 900 prints, whose images range from birds, angels, numbers, moons, and figures from art history. The images morph into each other, transfiguring themselves. Traces of past images makes visually apparent the notion that time layers on itself constantly. Fall weaves through mythic stories, history, and contemporary news in an attempt to make sense of the present 一 a period of enormous, incalculable loss. From a single copper plate whose surface evolved over hundreds of impressions, the prints use various printmaking techniques such as drypoint, caran d’arche crayons, aquatint, stencils, and ghost prints to achieve a delicate quality of touch.
Grieving Angels (2021) is a series of intaglio prints that plays with a unique symbolic language that reminds us that grief has and will exist forever. Within the series, there are seven compositional types, yet each print is unique. Each print contains nine plates 一 an angel framed by eight shaped plates. The angels are copies of those Giotto painted in the Scrovegni Chapel in the 14th century. Devastated by the crucifixion, their faces and bodies contort in response to their grief over Christ’s death. Alternately reminiscent of stained glass windows and religious architecture, the series calls to mind faith-based practices of grieving. The cyanotype chinecolle pieces contain images of seagulls, numbers, weather patterns, airplanes, x-rays of teeth, falcons, and hazes of blue/purple/cyan. A suggestive 一 yet elusive 一language of loss emerges.
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