This work is part of a series titled 333. The series contains three projects that each deal in triptychs, triads, and trilogies. While ranging in subject matter specifically, the projects each feature explorations of medium specificity in digital video. Methods of digital seeing, cinematic time versus reality, and thoughts on modernity as viewed through the lens of video are dissected across three multi-work projects that each triangulate to reveal a central narrative. 

And I am Afraid of Whales

2024

In And I am Afraid of Whales, conversations between myself and my two siblings led to ruminations on childhood media and an examination of media forces that worked to accurately portray, inaccurately heighten, or inaccurately mitigate the dangers we would face as adults. Via a built nostalgic box presenting interactive media waiting to be uncovered, I aimed to interrogate my inherent privilege in fear and anxiety while sourcing the roots of a complicated myriad of personal relationships to policing, domestic violence, insects, whales, death, and, above all, fear. 

A small gray box holds three buttons and three knobs. Each button takes the user to a looping video of a sibling - myself, my sister, and my brother. Pressing any of the buttons a second time reveals a dot in which a new video is playing. By manipulating the knobs, users are able to expose nostalgic video sources on topics relating to the fears of each sibling, with controls much like an Etch-a-Sketch. Subsequent button presses reveal further videos able to be uncovered, until a bottom 'death layer' is reached. A final button press will loop the user back to the 'top' root sibling video. The video sources themselves are randomized within each sibling path, containing 27 possible variants paths of videos presented.

And I am Afraid of Whales is a deeply personal work within my portfolio. It was written in Processing and runs on a combination of Arduino hardware and a mini-PC.