The Desire for Meaning in Phenomena
Looking at insect societies and natural designs as an object lesson, this work investigates natural patterns as remnants or documents of relationships. Beginning with an individual within a larger context, the work builds connections that speak to individual agency and interdependence. Watching insects swarming or birds circling in the sky, their movements seeming to communicate a complicated choreography that is difficult to follow but punctuated with highly organized moments. Like starling murmurations, those moments seem to indicate a natural way of organizing that is mysterious, fluid and chaotic. By collecting, arranging and rearranging images and information inspired by these creatures, I consider how the individual relates to the group and how, as human beings, we can't help but assign meaning to what we see and experience.