Blue

Artist’s Statement

We all know dozens of people: friends, acquaintances, colleagues, family members. Perhaps we’re aware of some of their more traumatic or ecstatic periods, but how many of them have ever taken us inside those experiences?

BLUE is an attempt to go beneath the surface and reveal the personal histories of people I know. Presented as a nine-screen video grid, BLUE explores both the sublime and banal stories of everyday life. Death, achievement, heartbreak and forgiveness are just a few of the topics discussed by the participants as they share their intimate memories of high and low experiences in their lives. Through the recording and display of these oral histories, BLUE serves as an archive of personal experience, saving stories from the graveyard of memory.

Thirty-two people were interviewed for this project and from these conversations 58 stories have been excerpted and distributed throughout the grid. These private accounts, presented in a tranquil space, enable the viewer to listen attentively to others and also make their own connections to the group. In a noise-saturated culture obsessed with reality TV, and where audio/video recording devices are ubiquitous, it becomes increasingly difficult to find real meaning and substance in the electronic world. BLUE provides an alternative environment where personal stories can be shared away from the arena of superficial media.