What's Happening?

What's Happening (2020) is a body of images and mail art created for my final capstone project at Principia College. Having to abandon an earlier project of documenting the culture of a small river town nearby, these pieces arrived as a response to the pandemic. The presence of photos, notes, and other personal belongings are all that remained in the suddenly abandoned dorm rooms left by students when policy required them to complete their studies from home. When I was also required to leave, I continued the project by sending out various interactive pieces of mail. Filled with pencils, charcoal, paint, markers, and other various items, the parcels, which had vague action words on them, facilitated a communal art creating process. Beginning as soon as the package was sealed, marks were made during the shipping process, and further marks were added as the recipients interpreted the words on their exterior. Afterward, the package was opened, the piece, which also served as a self-addressed postcard, was removed and returned. The collaborative nature of these works attempted to close the gap between my collaborators and me, though the subtle, unclaimable marks made during transit solidify the presence of that distance.