Other Realms

MFA thesis
research, book design
Rhode Island School of Design

Can a system existing in rigid order be taken back to a state of malleability, a space of potential not yet actualized?

If creation reduces the infinite to produce the finite, then in the simplest sense, creation is the process of bringing something tangible, real, out of the ether—out of the primordial chaos of possibility. The technique of defamiliarization can be viewed as an agent of de-creation, the active reversal of creation, in order to make creation possible once again. As such it holds spiritual power in its own right.

In pursuit of this state of renewed potentiality, I use methods of defamiliarization to draw my audiences into immersive, participatory narrative environments that precipitate encounters with and within alternate non-social contexts—nature, death, deep space, the dreaming world. In these often ineffably vast spaces, rigid spatial, temporal, and sensory parameters are manipulated, disrupting perceptual orientation. There is an infinite stepping in and stepping out of this space of potential, allowing for symbolic expressions of an inward story to unfold. From this suspended vantage point, the present is turned into uncharted territory.

Read the full book here.