Biological Controls: If it Bleeds We Can Kill It, 2016-2017
Eulogies of the Present Past, 2017, performance video
School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD 

The title and concept of this installation is in reference to The Doomsday Book, by Gordon Rattray Taylor and Predator, the movie directed by John Tiernan. As I was researching the negative effects of war on the environment I started to think about how the Earth would protect itself in the future using current day warfare tactics. Camouflage became a very fitting idea when thinking about hiding in plain sight and using nature itself as a way to hide, surprise, attack, and defend-- similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role as Dutch hiding from the Predator, and the Predator being invisible to attack.

For the public component of the exhibition, I created a partcipatory performance I titled Eulogies of the Present Past, where the audience was invited to write and recite poems around the theme of death and extinction. Due to space contraints, audience members were required to sit in a basement classroom in the building and watch partipants recite their poems via live stream on a TV. Participants took turns putting on a matching Tyvek suit so they would look to be camouflaged in the space. For the second portion was for participants to Karaoke to sad songs. Bloody Mary's were also served during the performance to help get everyone participating.

Materials:
Walls- acrylic, acrylic gouache, and spray paint on paper
Floors-acrylic, acrylic gouache, and spray paint on Tyvek
Trees-acrylic, acrylic gouache, and spray paint on carboard or paper mache
Bench-acrylic, acrylic gouache, and spray paint on a recycled fiber glass and wood bench from another installation