project description

i've been given the best of both worlds

i grew up along a free flowing river
one of the last in california
i moved to a city
that takes water from those small towns
and dams up their rivers

and i love this city
and i love the country

it was right to take all that water

we couldn't have a world metropolis
in the middle of this desert without it

it was wrong to take all that water
from those little cities
that couldn't possibly defend themselves

we needed it more
and they needed it more

and i need to make amends

to ninety six years of taking other people's things

what would it mean to do a ninety six minute performance

an action for amends
an exercise in reflection on the past ninety six years

writing ninety six minutes of sound using piano and voice
all of it relating back to this need to make amends
to understand
how something could be equally right and wrong
equally ugly and beautiful
strange and familiar
poor and rich
home and homesick

half empty and half full

---

For the second half of this course I will be actively thinking and making something for my project every day. Even if this is just a noted idea on how to proceed or an investigation into a related artist's methods.

My first step is to sit down at a piano and use piano and my voice to reflect on these ninety six years i mentioned above and explore the thought and possibility of doing something like this as a ninety six minute performance.

i am also going to keep more in mind the source of my interest in these issues. this is not a purely environmentalist piece, or a scientific study to show water shortage, i do not want to present only facts. i am so involved in this because i was allowed to have both worlds. a ranger woman at the visitors center in the humboldt redwoods, who grew up on the eel river's banks, nearly began to cry when i told her about the free-flowing sespe that i'd grown up at. She missed her home. It was taken from her. she couldn't go back to it.

i have two homes or more.

they are split and displaced into the places that i want and connect with.

my home is in los angeles and whenever i want i go to my other home in fillmore the river is still there for me, patiently waiting.

how is this digital?
if this does indeed evolve into a performance. the performance will be video taped and the video tape will become a document and an art piece in itself. the performance will not be for live audience only and will not be for the camera only. it will be for both.

i am also continuing with the visual materials that i've made the first half of the semester. as you can see by the earlier blog post, i am experimenting with spreading photographs and text over a larger wall space. like an exploded journal almost. we'll see how this goes.