For this project, I created a sensory deprivation experience in which the subject was blindfolded and exposed to different forms of affection from friends, acquaintances, and strangers.

For the experience project, I chose to create a mental journey experience by creating a sound piece using mainly humming which builds to an overwhelming state and finally drops off, and putting the participant in a small, dark space, depriving the subject of all senses except hearing. When the Sound stops, the participant is allowed to enter into an expanded mind space devoid of physical senses.

“Overall, the experience was very lucid and dream-like. I would honestly compare it to the feeling of being high. For the most part it was a very serene, tranquil experience. I felt at peace with my mind and body. However, there was one part where it cuts to silence and I remember being eerily scared. While listening to the sound art, I had more self-reflective thoughts. I found myself not worrying about the smaller things that usually consume my mind, but rather larger, more important questions.”

For our tactical assignment on stress culture, I wanted to create a piece on prescription pill abuse as a way to combat/manage stress. I generated illustrations and text commenting on the epidemic with slogans like ‘Trade your  pillows for pills’. I screen printed the new imagery and text over 50 copies of CMU’s art & culture paper, aptly named ‘Pillbox’. These copies were re-released into circulation.

In addition to this work, I collaborated with Maryyann, Ralph, and Andrea on the project posted here. This second tactical intervention was designed to draw attention to the lack of resources and attention for students struggling with mental illness as a result of CMU’s stress culture.

During the Intervention project, I worked with two groups; I helped Jacqueline with her smile factory and I helped Christin with her ‘punch Andrew Carnegie’ project. In Jacqueline’s group, I helped her acquire whatever material she needed and helped her mass produce the smiles; we both made the stamps with each other and then took turns stamping the masks.

For Christin’s project, I spent a few hours creating two lid-size Andrew Carnegie Dummy Bodies. Afterwards, I helped Christin and Lindsey adjust any changes they wanted to make in the body and insert the speakers. Afterwards, I edited the documentation together to make one comprehensive film.

Here is our final documentation:

For this project, we were to keep a collection and find an appropriate way to display what we had collected. I chose to collect secrets, and made an interactive piece where the viewer was to pick up this tin can, a childhood communication staple, and hold it to their ear. Once this action was completed, the viewer would hear anonymous secrets that people used to keep, but no longer keep, most of which had to do with childhood.

You can hear the a secret collection by clicking on the playlist below:

To make this book, I collected card games from several rounds of Estimation. Each player’s hand was recorded into the booklet as well as the cumulative score after each round. I made the decision to collage faces into the book in order to highlight: 1) The strategies and moves that we employ during a card game can be extended into daily life and 2) Reaction to loss, upset, gain, and domination appear to be universal. Although the text of the book may be too cryptic for a viewer with no knowledge of Estimation, the faces provide something that the viewer can relate to/empathize with: the players.

This hand-bound book collected images that referenced objects from everyday life, like a deck of cards or a hair tie.  The images were abstracted or obscured by an opaque cover sheet.  My intention was to add an element of intrigue to personal, commonplace objects.