Camouflage Performance

I have just received an acceptance email that will allow me to perform in a festival this month. If you are in the New York City area and would like to participate in 'Camouflage' please go to the 'complete profile' section (seen at right side of screen) and email me.

Below is an exerpt from my explaination that I provided for the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu

"... measuring approximately 131”x131” It is a piece of government issue desert camouflage that I have altered by adding hundreds of hand cut pieces of Hawaiian shirts. These shirt pieces were then hand tied to the existing camouflage to create a quilt like effect. I originally got the idea when I discovered that Honolulu lei makers were put to work during WWII making handmade camouflage. I thought of the phrase that we hear so frequently, that a family has ‘military ties.’ I decided to make a more palpable interpretation by utilizing used clothing to represent the people of Hawaii, and hand tying this representation in place. "

I later learned that entire buildings in Honolulu were covered in handmade camouflage so to try to make the city look like the jungle.

Most of you that know my earlier Hawaii pieces know that I frequently use the idea of camouflage as a reference to species self-preservation. It has become another way to tie us back to the earth for our own sakes.

Submerged

The piece 'Seed' is submerged in waters left after a flood. It was a favorite place for me to visit in Hawaii, near Kawaihae. It was an oasis in the desert. Because you could not drive there, I was usually the only one around. This is the place where I taught myself how to use underwater video cameras of different varieties, and also where my first video camera sunk one fateful day. It was down the hill from a Hawaiian sacred site. I tried to acknowledge the spiritual nature of the area. I dream of this place.