12 1/4″ x 10 1/4″ x 3 1/2″
Homemade paper (pulp made from military photographs of soldiers and brides from various wars, ground eternal flower, cotton); WWII carrier pigeon message capsules filled with (battlefield dirt from various wars, carnivorous plant seeds, resurrection plants, excavated shrapnel); fragments of military uniforms from various wars; hair flowers braided by war widows; colored paper, mourning dress fabric, silk, ribbon, typeset, poplar
In 1977, NASA launched two probes with “Golden Records” representing Earth’s life and cultures, and edited to present humanity’s “best face forward.” Ancient Beacons Long for Notice—the third video in a trilogy—explores the challenge of representing humanity through a single object. What is our moral obligation to a “full accounting” of our actions in perpetuity, off-planet, and to unknown beings?
Commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and Santa Barbara Museum of Art.