2022

“SYNTHETIC NATURALISM STUDIES”

35MM FILM, MIXED MEDIA

parsons senior thesis project

In my final year at Parsons, I developed a thesis around the idea of synthetic naturalism, examining and illustrating the barriers between natural and artificial structures. My final project, presented at Parsons' Aronson gallery, was in the form of a video sculpture which played a loop of my film of the same title.

There are two main elements of the piece: the moving image (16mm analog film, 4:26, single channel) and the plaster-based structure that encompasses a monitor which is presenting the film. The plaster form, built upon a wooden dolly style rolling foundation, involves hand-mixed plaster (roughly ten pounds) that wraps around the active screen in an envelope of white, dried matter. The stem of the monitor is completely covered with plaster, extending outwards to the corners of the form. An adhesive was applied over the plaster, and then the sticky plaster was covered in sand collected from Brighton Beach in New York. Seashells from various beaches and dried plant matter adorn the entirety of the work, some encased in resin as they are intentionally placed increasingly closer to the monitor screen. Part of this piece will, and in some areas has already begun to, rot and mold. Other parts of this piece- the resin encased flowers surrounding the digital screen- will survive for hundreds of years based on their decomposition rate.