Art

Item Description

Title: Still from Hold Fast

Medium: Digital photograph

Date: 2008

Dimensions: 16" x 20"

This piece is not framed.

Hold Fast began in March 2007 with the adoption of a site part of Loch Raven Reservoir north of Baltimore, Maryland. Supplying water and outdoors enjoyment, Loch Raven is a great example of public spaces that provide enjoyment. My exploration of the reservoir led me to a site that was secluded and feed by a stream. As my relationship to the site and the reservoir grew a narrative emerged. Discovery of the site as a place of shifting dualities, beauty and toxicity, I became compelled to create a therianthropic character that acted as a mediator. Striving to maintain the site’s balance. In November 2007 Hold Fast was initiated by a private ceremonial burying of the wings, with the intention of unearthing them at a later time. Following the burial, the next four months were dedicated to considering the landscape in relation to honing a performance.

Site-specificity and the ecology of the niche are vital to Hold Fast. This small section of Loch Raven is nestled within an embankment bordered by tall trees, big rocks and is stream fed from nearby fields. No matter the time of day, the light always seems warm and offers an overlook of the water and the surrounding woods. The dirt sparkles from the mica rocks and the water has a distinct smell of sweetness. Flora and fauna are plentiful in the herds of deer, owls, foxes and birds that call the reservoir home. Paradoxically, the site is strewn with a large amount of trash that quietly pokes up throughout the landscape and menacingly clogs the stream, shoreline and root systems. Upon closer investigation, I discovered that horse fields and construction sites feed the stream. Noting this observation, it occurred to me that there was no monitoring of the run-off going into the reservoir. This survey was further underscored by the amount of trash and waste that collected weekly at the bottom of the stream and water’s edge. Beyond this lies the purpose of the reservoir itself, which holds an average 23 billion gallons of water, supplying surrounding Baltimore Counties and Baltimore City with fresh drinking water. Coincidentally, major water reserves all over the globe are rapidly exhausting themselves, making this specific reservoir extremely volatile to the changing ecologies that it is linked to.

Symbolism plays a important role in the creation of Hold Fast. Symbolic tools used in this performance are simple in their form, yet heightened for the purpose of ceremony and ritual. A boat, paddle and shovel are directly linked as tools used throughout history for discovery, unearthing or burying, as rescue devices or defense. Buried In the roots of the fallen tree lies a canning jar containing preserved beets. Preservation of food, as an offering and for the after life is symbolic of our need to ritualize, show thanks and nourish. Beets are tied to Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love, blood and the heart. The wings, which were still buried and under four feet of water are representative of the reservoir itself, seen yet taken for granted the resource it provides.  The act of boating to the wings burial site is the pilgrimage. When the character steps out of the raft with shovel in hand the relation of human in relation to nature is disturbed, an overlap in ecotones is created. Instinctively and patiently the character searches for the tips of the wings, not knowing that when it raises the now heavy shovel, if there will be wings or not. Success is not celebrated and the character instinctively slips on the wings, death becomes life. The water preserved the wings for the character, kept them safe, but also contributed to the waste of the site, beauty/toxicity. Climbing out of the water and up the fallen tree the character violently uses the shovel to whack and dig at the exposed root system, hungrily searching. When it comes to the jar, the character sets down the shovel, unscrews the lid and jar in hand walks towards the viewer. Confronted with the character for the first time, the viewer watches as the character pulls out and consumes the beets. It is now twilight; the moon is above the water. Two hands flash on the screen; HOLD FAST is spelled out in black letters on two fists.

All of these artifacts come together as objects with age, history and carry the Hold Fast story. Through the conscious imparting of inanimate objects with nature, the animistic doctrine becomes vital in bringing a spirit to these articles. By allowing the viewer to wander, discover and uncover the underlying symbolism and myths integral to their animalistic/human self. They leave with an individualized understanding of the installation. The ongoing metaphor of regeneration, consumption, life and death are the overarching themes that pervade this body of work.