digging
The idea of digging is making its way into my work. Digging for the meaning, digging in my heels, and digging back into history are all ways that I've recently begun an excavation of sorts. This recent video installation is about a search, but without a real feeling of completion, or knowing what it is that you are looking for while you're digging.
This urge to dig in the sand is overwhelming to me. The sandy riverbeds from the recently receded Missouri River are miles long now, taking over paths and parks that we used to walk along, toppling trees and burying signage. This enough is an awesome sight to me, but the sheer familiarity of the fine silt in my fingers, the shells that turn up in its depth, and the dune formations from the prairie wind make me feel like I am back home on the Florida coast. This is the feeling that I cannot let go.
The video shows me setting up and demarcating an area that I have chosen to search - out of all the sand - and then setting to work. Digging methodically with a shovel at first, then furtively with my hands. There are scenes from different days, different holes. Sometimes I discover nothing, so the search continues.
