ancient grains

carved yellow cedar, paint, MDF, 2×4’s, screws, spackle, copper, gypsum sand, amber, pyrite, lava rock, beach rock, sea glass, seashell, fruit pit, maple branch, flax seed, mung bean, kidney bean, black lentil, wild rice, bee pollen, photography, 16′ x 10′ x 3′, 2022

In her 2008 book, Chaos, Territory, Art, philosopher and feminist theorist Elizabeth Grosz claims that, “art is the passage from the house to the universe.” Following this line of thinking, ancient grains collects objects sloughed from everyday experiences– a fruit pit, a stone, a screw– and through the gesture of their arranging, connects domestic space to that of archives, of collective memory. These things, at once familiar and entirely strange, take their place in a constellation of others, all set on the surface of a platform made to mimic the austere manner of a stage. They are arranged around a wood carving of a quern-stone, an early agricultural tool used for grinding grain into flour. Among many interpretations, this pairing implies that art is a social tool, and its arranging becomes a way to share a social reality– but our tools are not innocent, they change us in turn.

ancient grains was exhibited with SOIL Gallery in Seattle, WA in 2021/2022. Documentation images by Josh True.