FUTUREFEELD
440 Digital prints on heat-formed acetate, synthetic leather, synthetic fur, acrylic, pigment, wire.
"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey." -Kenji Miyazawa
I pessimistically envision passage into the future as stepping cautiously through a field of densely woody Goat Head thorns. Yet in FUTUREFEELD, the shells of the nearly indestructible thorns have somehow become semi-transparent, revealing soft, surprising interior treasures. Goat Head thorns (scientific name tribulus terrestris) are actually highly functional seedpod nutlets that grow in proliferation in many regions of the world, including the Southwest United States (and in my yard at home in New Mexico). The thorny protrusions, while threatening to the outsider, minimize injury to the fertile inner treasure, acting as a self-protecting and high-functioning armor against attack. The exteriors protect and defend the seed-like kernels, envisioned here as inner beings made of leathery skin, sprouting fur-like tendrils, becoming tantalizing gifts of sensual pleasure. Optimistically then, I envision the field as a community, the enduring potential contained within each ‘seed’, invoking metaphorical connections to the strength and persistence of the human spirit.
