2018
OBJECT I'VE LOST I
1892. A small band of Venimen White-Satchel Rebels are camped out in the East Vustek Hills of Northern Austersan. They live in mountainside caves and subsist on the occasional meal of sheep stolen from local farmers, but have otherwise reverted to hunting and gathering. They find themselves in these squalid conditions as a result of the ongoing Second Austero-Venimen War. Millions of their fellow Venimen have already been rounded up and executed in mass killings arranged by the Austerite government. They write periodically to the other rebel camps, attaching their correspondence to the undersides of some of the captured sheep. Winter is fast approaching, and if relief does not come quickly, the rebels will find themselves starved into submission.
In the aftermath of the War, many survivors would describe the devastation their community experienced as genocide. During the 1910s, some first significant efforts were made by the Austerite government to recover possessions and the bodies of the deceased to Venimen families. Caves such as these were discovered in numerous locations throughout the Vustek mountains, most confined to the Eastern extent of the range. In 1922, criminal proceedings were brought against 14 former officers and high-ranking members of the former Austerite Empire. In preparation for trial, photography from the 1910s was examined along with original field notes. 10 of the 14 officials were acquitted.
Another foray into the realm of world-building, this series attempts to expose our practices of creating and documenting histories. On display is a cross-section of the layers of meaning we build around culture, both intentional and unintentional, true and misleading. The first layer is represented by the objects themselves, which have their life imposed on them by the original users, who endow them with their initial purpose. The second layer is photography, which forces the objects into compositions and contexts which begin to suggest a diverging truth - in this particular case, were the objects originally found neatly framed in front of natural backgrounds? Or were they bloodstained? Were they buried with their users? There is no way for us to know. The third layer is internal interpretation, where what is now a documented “work” is deconstructed for an unseen audience, represented in this case by the notes on the photographs. The fourth layer is in the perception of the finished piece by the viewer, who can now interact with the imagery and story to make it their own.
The story in question finally becomes one of a curious anthropological investigation after an unknown group of people, removed from its original context of tragedy, war, and suffering. It is by this exact process that raw emotion and truth is neutralized and commodified, then distributed to a public who is dulled to any impact by the multiple layers in between them and the original object of catharsis. It is by this process that an experience becomes an event, an event becomes news, and in its diluted form, truth is discarded.
This series asks us whether we as a community or as individuals can ever come to terms with the world around us, and whether it is right to jump from perception to understanding without the crucial first step of first-hand experience. It urges us to scrutinize our sources and storytellers, and seek truth with patience and determination.
