​
(doors, latex paint, historical articles, frames, adhesives, resin, found objects,
13' x 15' x 6.5', May 2022)
​
The sea level continues to rise. The tensions have always existed. Both are becoming more apparent. As the tides rise, our communities are seeing through a scope of truth which reveals socio-economic inequalities and undeniable disparity. If our community is only as strong as the weakest player, then our concerns should be in building each other up instead of breaking each other down. When we are all here just trying to live and get by, no one has time for dealing with the low vibrations that make humans tear each other apart. We have bigger problems, it seems.
​
And for those of us with children, the problems (and the solutions) must be the biggest.
Inspired by the work of the In[HEIR]itance Project in Hampton Roads, we are calling to the community to examine our past, present and future, posing the questions: What have we inherited? What are we going to do with it? And what exactly are we passing down to our future generations? This exhibit represents the revelation of tensions and the firm pledge to be the change that we all want to see in our world..
​
Simon Family Jewish Community Center, VB "Rising Tides, Rising Tensions: An Exhibit at the Simon Family JCC" (video interview)
UNDERSTANDING a publication by the Robert Nusbaum Center pg 7 "Rising Tides, Rising Tensions"
​
Virginia Wesleyan University hosts "Rising Tides, Rising Tensions"
Rising Tides,
Rising Tensions
Rising Tides, Risng Tensions is a family photo wall maze of Tidewater history.
​
From the front door entrance, visitors are met with pleasant imagery of a sunny day, people on the beach and positive stories of the heroes of Hampton Roads. The water line steadily increases in height as participants walk through the exhibit. Eventually they are met with the sounds of thunder and waves violently crashing up on the shore.
​
The back door entrance shares a different story. Calling into question: "Who has historically been forced and socially shunned to use the back door?" To help live the experience, visitors enter into a water level that is already over their heads, walk immediately into the sounds of a frightening storm admidst a delpidating house with the family photo frames filled with will collage compositions of the dark history of coastal Virginia.
From historical slavery to modern racism, this story seeks to tell all truths and get the community involved. There are many ways to participate. Willing passersby may tell their own experience through the "Add YOURstory" installation on the storm door, with positive stories landing above the water line and negative experiences drowing below the water level.
