How To Be Grounded
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Screen print on textile and mixed media
Approx. 2.2 x 1.1 x 1.1 m
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How to be Grounded recalls the places I have resided in and the degree to which I have felt
grounded in each. On the walls of the tent are screen printed maps of Montreal, Ottawa,
Warsaw, Melbourne, Brisbane and Weimar. Some are familiar and some have remained relatively
foreign. The way each city or town was experienced differs immensely. As I acclimatized and
oriented myself in the physical space and the particular cultures of each, references from
past places of residence have had their influences. Navigating through foreign places and
attempting to build a foundation involved finding points of references and comfort.
The temporary tent structure hints at the ones children often build to nurture creativity,
comfort and safety. The audience of the Bauhaus Universität Summaery were invited to enter
the tent to help construct the ground of its interior during the three days of the exhibition.
As participants contributed to the latch hooking of a rug, the foundation of the tent
became grounded in the actions of its visitors.
The tent installation was erected for the first three days of the Summaery exhibit (July
13th- 15th). During those three days I worked on the rug with the contribution of visitors.
The space I occupied on the site of this campus-wide event was central yet secluded.
As many people passed in front of the tent, some simply observed me inside making the
rug, some engaged in conversation and asked questions about the piece, some sat with me
for a while as I latch hooked and others tried to make a few latch hooks themselves. The
many hours spent in the particular site became my home for the duration of the event. Acquaintances,
strangers, adults and children visited the installation and in some way contributed
to the piece. The rug or the foundation of the piece was only partially completed
and so it remains a work in progress.