20” x 19”
Typeset on matboard; cast root (bacteria cultured from southern battlefield soil, arrowroot, Quaker bonnet, Virginia snakeroot, cotton root); chain excavated from a Civil War battlefield; cold cast nickel and silver; melted bullet lead, rust, velvet, water-extendable resin, glass
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.