Bound
2017-2019
Bound traces multiple forms of entanglement in the face of anthropogenic climate change. It is comprised of annual average temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 300 places around the globe, 1500 feet of petroleum-derived medical tubing, plant fibers dyed with plant and insect-derived dyes and mineral mordants. Each time I exhibit Bound the individual tubes can be reconfigured to evoke varying aspects of our relationship to climate.
Petrochemical pipelines penetrate the globe, physically entwining the fate of organisms from deep geologic time, present, and future. There is a relationship between the damage done to the earth and the damage done to our bodies by the petrochemical industry, and yet our lives are also reliant on and entangled with this industry. Petrochemical-derived medical tubing is a pipeline that runs through and around our bodies. It is used for drug delivery in chemotherapy, wound drainage, and dialysis equipment—medical interventions for illnesses that often have the same causes as ecological destruction.
Each length of thread is dyed with plant- or insect-derived dyes and mineral mordants—a global practice that stretches back to long before the age of oil and the production of petrochemical¬-derived synthetic dyes. Each dataset, expressed along a length of tubing using varying colors of thread, is annual average temperature for a different city, state, or region of the world. Geographic scales range from cities to the globe.
Bound was created over two years with the assistance of nine women
(Bound i.6), 2024, Exhibition: “The Space Between Threads” at Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, CO
72” x 96” x 10”
(Bound 1.5), 2019, Exhibition: “Beyond Measure” at Lewis Project Space, Tulsa, OK
72” x 120” x 1.5”
Photos 1-6: Philip Maisel, Photo 7: Destiny Green
Bound (i.4), 2019, Exhibition: “Overflow” at Gallatin Gallery, New York, NY
60” x 70” x 1.5”
detail of Bound (i.3), 2018, Exhibition at the Archer Building, Tulsa, OK
Annual average temperature for three recent homes (New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Tulsa, OK)
Bound (i.2.), 2018, Exhibition: “In Times of Seismic Sorrows” at the Center for Craft, Asheville, NC
(i.2.)references the swirl of a storm across a weather map. Installation size variable, current view 42” x 48” x 3/4”.
Bound (i.1), 2018, Exhibition: “Land(s)craping” at Living Arts Gallery, Tulsa, OK
24” x 60” x 10”
Bound is featured in The Body Issue of the literary magazine Ecotone. Additional photos and an essay about the project are accessible online through Ecotone’s website. Special thanks to editor Anna Lena Phillips Bell for inviting me to contribute. I am honored to have work included amidst so much beautiful writing.
Special thanks to Tulsa Artist Fellowship and the Kaiser Family Foundation for supporting this project.