For my job as an art professor, I commute to work almost daily. Then, on campus I am in a constant blur of motion, hurrying from teaching classes to committee meetings to public talks and back again, then I spend my evenings at home answering emails, prepping for classes, and grading. The commute I take is about an hour-long drive through beautiful scenery that I hardly give a glance. Instead, I’m busy using my speaker phone and car time as “office hours.”
Research suggests that the average professor works 62 hours per week, while the average American spends only four hours of “quality time” per week with their families. In 2023 I was awarded a sabbatical and spent my time researching the effects we suffer due to the lack of balance between work and home. I also read books about the effects of wandering, and I learned about the history of time as a social construct.
For this project I wandered off my hour-long daily commute, pondering the relativity of time and our constant connection to the “manmade,” our existence as cyborgs and slaves to time. As an act of resistance, I ventured into the stunning landscapes typically ignored. I stood still and felt the wind blow around me. I left my watch at home and forgot about the time. I allowed myself the opportunity to experience life without constant productivity, and I remembered that our time is truly priceless. These are the works created from the experience. Motion is juxtaposed with stillness, blur and chaos are juxtaposed with meditation, and all intended to reflect on the fits and starts, the non-linear experience of our life minutes. This project is intended to queer time; to remind us that time is a social construct designed to keep us working and productive in a neoliberal capitalist society, yet as such a design, it often takes from us the things that matter the most. This is an attempt to defy the demands of time, at least for a moment.
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” ~ Jack Kerouac
“I like that time is marked by each sunrise and sunset whether or not you actually see it.”
~ Catherine Opie
*Exhibition currently on view at Missouri Western State University.
* Exhibition was on view from August through November, 2024 at Fine Arts & Design Studios at Johnson County Community College. Three artist talks were presented about the work during the run of the exhibition.
Research suggests that the average professor works 62 hours per week, while the average American spends only four hours of “quality time” per week with their families. In 2023 I was awarded a sabbatical and spent my time researching the effects we suffer due to the lack of balance between work and home. I also read books about the effects of wandering, and I learned about the history of time as a social construct.
For this project I wandered off my hour-long daily commute, pondering the relativity of time and our constant connection to the “manmade,” our existence as cyborgs and slaves to time. As an act of resistance, I ventured into the stunning landscapes typically ignored. I stood still and felt the wind blow around me. I left my watch at home and forgot about the time. I allowed myself the opportunity to experience life without constant productivity, and I remembered that our time is truly priceless. These are the works created from the experience. Motion is juxtaposed with stillness, blur and chaos are juxtaposed with meditation, and all intended to reflect on the fits and starts, the non-linear experience of our life minutes. This project is intended to queer time; to remind us that time is a social construct designed to keep us working and productive in a neoliberal capitalist society, yet as such a design, it often takes from us the things that matter the most. This is an attempt to defy the demands of time, at least for a moment.
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” ~ Jack Kerouac
“I like that time is marked by each sunrise and sunset whether or not you actually see it.”
~ Catherine Opie
*Exhibition currently on view at Missouri Western State University.
* Exhibition was on view from August through November, 2024 at Fine Arts & Design Studios at Johnson County Community College. Three artist talks were presented about the work during the run of the exhibition.
