Freedom?
What about the freedom to care?
Stretched to the limit,
frayed,
torn apart,
the courage to say no,
no, that is too much!
No, that is not acceptable!
No, that is not what I need.
The courage to say no opens up
the possibility,
the mental space,
the emotional wherewithal
to care.
Will we stand
and fight
for the freedom
to care?
I have struggled most as an artist and parent. Living on a single income, with twice the expenses, limits what I can do and where. I can only travel for research if the boy can come along, and has something to occupy him. The same goes for residencies. And the cost of even occasional childcare is prohibitive, let alone regular care. Travel and compartmentalization is fragmentation, causing sanity, time, and financial problems. Again, exponentially even more so with a learning difference. This is in part why my work rejects the artificial division of life, work, family, and environment. And why my practice is integrated, so I can survive and work. Not just survive, thrive. I know, just by the demographics of people who are parents, and people with disabilities, that I am not the only one.
Putting together the last bits to finish off a fun, and emotional, project. Time Exchange is meant to express the mental disconnect we feel at times from a physical routine, punching in and clocking out.
The wonderful antique punch clock I found in a coal mining Pennsylvania was just inspiration needed to finally do something with xeroxes of my head from 20 years ago. Bored silly at a banking temp job in my early 20s, I snuck into a copy room and xeroxed my head. Not just once, but three times.
The punch clock, which is also an emotional connection to prior generations of my family who worked in the mines in that area of Pennsylvania, inspired creating videos of physically punching in while mentally clocking out. I can't even imagine what punching into the mine must of felt like to my great-grandfather, his father, brothers, uncles, and father-in-law. As immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, it was steady work if dangerous and back breaking. It's easy to imagine they'd rather be elsewhere and also were in their minds.
Time Exchange as a whole piece will be the punch clock on a pedestal with the video playing above it, one of the xeroxes printed on brushed aluminum also on the wall above, and definitions of time exchange and disconnection on the wall to the right of the lot. Ideally you'll be able to participate, but that depends on the venue.
Look for Time Exchange at TAG's annual Le Salon Show in Frederick, MD this summer. The show runs August 4th - 27th with the opening on August 5th from 5-9pm. See you there!
