Between Historicity and History of the Limestone Vernacular
Between Historicity and History of the Limestone Vernacular
Consists of repeat patterned fabrics designed from a building called the Thomas Harrison House in Downtown Harrisonburg. Harrisonburg lists this house as one of the oldest in the city at approximately 1750. This is a video timelapse of the piece as it evolved throughout the exhibition. Each day I shifted the quilted sections around to allow the piece to travel through the space. As the fabric moved I rubbed dirt that was found around the house in the shape of the modulating quilt pattern. The specific quilt block pattern used is called the Navajo Quilt Block.
As the name implies this piece is about the gap between Historicity or the specific actual historical facts of something and the cultural understanding of history. In 2018 there was a proposal to turn the house into a visitor center for the city. As a way of generating publicity for the new visitor center- The Harrison House was carbon dated; however the house was found to have been built closer to 1800 and most likely the Harrison family never live there. The City of Harrisonburg decided to ignore these facts- in favor of keeping the designation that it is one of the oldest buildings in town.
Ipad, Cotton, wood, Velcro, speakers, conduit, amplifier,2 channel sound installation, fielding recordings, quilting, digital dye print sublimation printing, interactive site-specific installation
2018 Size variable, duration 12 hours (looped)