2012-2013 -

4 seasons (2018)

15:00

side by side (2018)

15:00

feature length (2018)

45:00

and naming (2021)

paper cuts of stills from feature length

The 4 separate versions originate from a VHS camcorder documentation of a local Chicago community gardens plants when visited each season to document their stages in life and death.

(2021) naming is four paper cut 12”x12” panels deconstructing my initials, BT. I’ve never been comfortable with my name and this was an action of representing that it has gone through the seasons of life and it’s taken up enough space. I am still figuring out what my name should have been but I have difficulty knowing and choosing. The paper cuts came from series of VHS video installation pieces made in 2018. The images go from winter to fall which are intentional. I was born in February during the coldest part of the year and was named during this time.

(2018) I took the above mentioned video tape to Media Burn to get a High Definition file to work with. The results were 3 separate pieces. The first was a 45 minute piece for microcinema which played the film in order from Summer, Fall, Winter, and then Spring. The second was made so that all 4 seasons could be watched simultaneously. At different points the same plants appear at different stages of their lives showing where they are in their life cycles. The last version is called side by side, where the plants movements in the wind created a kind of creature in the center, expressing that the life of plants are dynamic.

Each version can be shown separately or as part of a show together. When 4 seasons and side by side are shown they are installed box screens on the wall covered in fresh local plants, over the course of the show the plants wither and die. The feature length is silent and 45 minutes. Considering it can be difficult to sit in silence for 45 minutes viewers are encouraged to not worry about moving around during the film, but are asked to not talk.

Installation photos are 4 seasons at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY as part of their LOOPS show in 2019, and side by side was featured at USS Gallery in Chicago as part of their show When They Open The Books in 2019.