Deep Blue, 2019
Blue LEDs, wire, custom electronics

2019 Kindred Spirits Temple Children Residency, in Hilo, Hawai’i

I knew going into this residency that the site I would be working with was an entire room- but also that I could only bring to the island what I could fit in my suitcase. So I packed a few changes of clothes and as many electronics and flew to Hawai’i with a simple objective: to submit myself to whatever wild beast the creative process is, and to make an artifact which could exist as an object but also have a spatial interaction that could fill the room.

So I made an undulating, pulsing vortex sculpture- reminiscent of the ocean, the whirlpool, the dappled, shimmering light- the color blue. I spent a lot of time in Hilo examining the interconnected nature of the biology because I was shocked to learn that many of the predominant species I saw there were recently invasive. This place which I saw as pristine, and “natural”, had already been spoiled by human activity. What is this nature we perceive, that we strive to save? How will we define what is natural in a world which is changing so quickly? It is strange to be human, with one foot in the world and one foot out of it.

This was an especially interesting project for me because Hilo is a small town and there’s not really access to any sort of digital fabrication tools, which I typically lean on to guarantee a high degree of precision in my work. In the age of impending machine overlords, Deep Blue was made 100% by hand, in the space of two weeks. Major shoutouts to my fellow residents and especially Miya Tsukazaki and Elizabeth Workman for hosting, cooking 3 terrific meals a day with freshly caught fish and fruits and coffee and drinks provided by the local community, and for generally being powerful boss ladies. <3