Confession, 2020, installation view, inkjet print, video projection, shoes
Confession
Identity is something inescapable. Whether we like it or not, we have to acknowledge who we are in order to make decisions about what we do. This process takes a lifetime. Along with discovering we collect the parts of us through experiences we go through and environments, we find ourselves. Like slugs that create their hiding “houses” from pebbles they collect along the way through the spring, we build layers of our identity to form a cocoon that we find comforting or restricting.
This is precisely why we find anonymity so appealing. Liberating ourselves from our identity for a period of time can have profound effects on understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Throughout history, we used various tools and techniques to achieve this state from rituals involving trance induced states to simple masks that provide temporary relief from the person we perceived to be.
Anonymity is as liberating as it is dangerous, as, without our understanding of our identity, we have little to no responsibility for our actions. One of the many options available to us to achieve the liberating identity-free state of mind is nature. To be in nature, in solitude, we are confronted with our true selves that lyes beneath many layers of our constructed identities.
To be comfortable in nature is only possible if one is willing to accept oneself. In this installation, I explore the idea of nature as a confession booth. The place without prejudice and expectations.
