Ballroom Marfa
Installation at Ballroom Marfa, as part of the Data Deluge exhibition, hand-dyed, hand-stitched cotton, 2012
In this commissioned work for Ballroom Marfa I use star calculation software to determine the stars coming into view on the day gold was first discovered in California as well as the stars on the morning the Spindletop oil geyser blew and the modern oil industry began.
The proportions are the same aspect ratio as old Hollywood Westerns: one reads as riding off into the sunset, the other a black and white film still. Both works speak to the allure and the danger of placing all of one's hopes in the future as well as the chain reaction these events set in motion.