artist statement
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I locate my practice in an archeological space of sifting and discovery. I find that film, video, drawing, and photography are useful media in which to present a range of ideas. I work with fragments, detritus, speculation, failures and afterthoughts.
Since 1991 I have made over 20 films and videos. Some are live-action, appearing to conform to a conventional model of documentary filmmaking, and some are stop-motion animations, which I also think of as "documentaries." In each aspect of my practice I take a close look at the ways in which social machinations are reflected in the smallest aspects of daily life. Whether it is copying a receipt from Wal-Mart, a headline from Reuters, or filming documentary-style interviews at the corner store, my interest is in the ways in which the sweeping statements of "History" affect specific details of human experience.
Films such as Perseverance & How to Develop It, Schumann, View from Elsewhere, and Washing, use the potential of the medium - its vast potential for both directness and metaphor - to express ideas. I have interviewed political asylum seekers in Switzerland and animated a line drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge as well as hundreds of notes in a piano concerto. My films and videos have explored the histories of industrialization, the self-help phenomenon, and the present-day landscape of Lower Manhattan.
My works aspire to document numerous histories, ranging from the personal, focusing on a particular site and space, to cultural or social histories. These narrative cross paths, contradict, and reinforce one another. Each of my projects investigates these intersections.