Why Tombs?

Object + time – facts = Fascination (mystery + curiosity)

There is something about old things.  Old things that show their age.  Old things that once had life.  Old things that have a story – but not the whole story, or even the correct one. It’s the mystery of archeology that is so compelling; it presents a frosty window into a time and world not our own.

What is the object above? A naturally occurring geologic growth? A horn of an unknown animal? A manmade sculpture? It's these kind of possibilities, not necessarily the facts given, that I try to convey in  my own work.

My masters thesis project, Monument, operated this way.  I had the idea of the story behind the Stonehenge-like installation, but I didn't talk about it much and let the audience try to piece together the implied story.

This man was the central figure in the stone circle.  One could then assume that the rest of the images – collections of sometimes disparate objects – had to do with him in some way.

But what did they mean? The behind-the-scenes answer was that the main character was some sort of soldier or assassin, and the objects were somehow representative of vanquished foes.  But some were more obvious than others:

For example, how would a stained rag and a fried locust represent an enemy? Sometimes, even I didn't have all the answers, but the mystery created a dialogue with the viewer.

For TOMBS, I intend to use these very tools to engage the audience.  Each tomb will be about a particular person, and piecing together the material clues will be part of the fun.

And in keeping with the mystery, here's a sneak-peek at a detail of one of the tombs in progress: