Buoyant Mercy (Thummim)
Buoyant Mercy Wood, Tar, Rubber, Handmade Paper, Found Object, & Projection In the interactive installation "Buoyant Mercy," viewers were enticed to engage with objects in a small confessional. In this confessional, the viewer was instructed by a small sign with the following text: Before you lies a ledger, not an account of money, but an account of time. Tracing narrow paths, climbing rubble, and waist deep in rivers. Write on the paper anything you wish to leave behind. Secure the paper to the deck of the boat and contemplate your writing. Take with you a black orb, a Thummim. Each contains a part of a collection that I have been accumulating for years. Items that hold memories, thoughts, life events, and questions. Each to me represents a cell from a moment in time, crystalline and tangible. Holding them in my hands ignites me with the electricity of the past, and now its time that I share them with you. They come tied, wrapped, and preserved in the state I last held them. Unwrap them here, in your own time, or never at all. Once the viewer had written their statement on paper, they were instructed to make an exchange on the deck of the boat. The deck has protruding nails for securing the pieces of paper. After leaving the paper, the viewer then took a black rubber ball from the deck of the boat. The viewer then had the choice to open the ball in the gallery or take it with them. Each ball contained a small fetish item collected by the artist on his journey. These items were carefully documented in a ledger book in the confessional portion of the installation.