"Twins" Teaser

About "Twins"

“Twins” is a multi-media piece built around the theme of hair, it’s aesthetic movement, and the structural art it can become. It’s divided between three forms of visual media: Photography, Video, and Live Performance. Two short films define the mood and affect through sound and ambiguous compositions. Photography, enhanced with motion graphics, anchors the storyline. Finally, a “living piece” installation, consisting of two performers covered in over 20 feet of hair, will be erected and permitted to interact with gallery attendees. Performance art coupled with photography and video represent different perceptive dimensions that connect the audience through a unique interactive exhibition. 

"Twins" Motion Graphics

“Twins” – An Essay

How cruel we can be to one person that is alike us, or even our own self?

 There’s no other connection, both comforting and alienating, than sharing both body and mind with another person. A long cultural and medical fascination has existed over the unavoidable marriage of identical people through one concrete and founding bond: DNA. The connection of their physical self, and in some claims, their emotional state, can be mapped through spittle, blood, hair follicles, and having the same birthday. A blessed union felt in life and, tragically, a cruel connection that’s severed but ever presently looming in death, identical twins are seen as a match made for life. But sometimes there is a need for separation, an identity outside of the pair, something sacred and unshared. This is the dark tale encased in “Twins.”

 “Twins” has an undeniably sublime force: an obscure labyrinth of lies and pain in the poise and remorse of both characters, two adolescent girls, as they struggle to hold the frame in which each is composed to exist within. This work exaggerates the visual interpretation of the stress and, sometimes, grim tranquility of both girls as they share the role of heroine and antagonist. The piece holds the viewer in a state of gloom through the soundtrack of a child’s music box set to staccato human heartbeats and breaths, synced with a flickering roll of ghastly images.

 The most tangible centerpiece in this installation is hair. This multi-media series cohesively displays the presence of the theme hair and its concept. Hair becomes the aesthetic and psychological element used by the twins in their struggle for individuality. It is the only physical feature that they can change and transform differently from one another. Hair turns into the archetype of their quest for identity and the anchor that dramatically reunites the twins once again.

 The tale of “TWINS” is not just of two girls struggling to co-exist or overcome. It’s about how cruel we can be to one person that is alike us or even our own self. The intent of good for the greater whole but the damaging attraction to isolate and do harm. In the actions we take in separating we ultimately, in an ignorantly cruel way, try to keep things the way they are.

"Twins" The Installation, 2011 Art Basel Miami

Installation

This series was released in 2011 during Art Basel Miami, featuring video projections and a “living piece” installation: a large sculpture made of 20 feet of hair covering two performers in the center. The multi-sensory experience allowed viewers to walk through and experience this story as the present.  

"TWINS" Art Basel Exhibit Book (Preview)

A limited run of "TWINS" mourning hair boxes were created by the artist for the 2011 Art Basel Miami exhibit. Each box (signed by the artist) includes:

- 40 Page Mini Book
- DVD with "Twins" short movies and motion graphics (Run Time: 3 min. 33 sec.)
- Eight miniature prints on high quality inkjet photo paper

The "TWINS" mourning hair box is hand made and wrapped in cow hide*. Please contact the artist for availability and pricing.

*NOTE: Cow hide was sourced from a small farm in Okanogan, Washington.