rejected stories began as a small site-specific installation piece that was created for the hotel fair during the 7th International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA during the spring of 2013.
After arriving in Provincetown and seeing the options of where the piece could be installed during the hotel fair (which turned out to be in the hallway) the ideas began to flow- the possibilities of where can this project be taken, how can it be made more real and personal, what role will scale play in how the work is viewed, and on and on. Many pages of notes at 4:30 am, the sun is up quite early on Cape Cod, the idea of no longer using the pre-printed book as metaphor for our stories, but actually the use of people's own rejected stories from their lives.
We all have those items of regret in our lives, the projects never completed, the trips never taken, etc. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own minds and paralyzed by fear that we simply reject those things in our lives that could be of importance. I am not speaking about the want for material items, but the wanting of becoming more cultured, trying a new hobby or art form, companionship, a new job, a full-time studio practice (insert your own story here.) That little voice in our heads that over and over tells us "no, that really isn't a good idea, you can't, you shouldn't, what will people think, it's too ambitious, people won't understand, it wouldn't be proper, that is not ok with society" and on it goes.
So, all these rejected stories that never are acted on and therefore never make it to our memory as an event, but remain some fleeting, abstracted idea, what becomes of them? This project will ultimately be a way for those stories we've kept locked away to be heard. My hope is that with the submission of each written story, the submitter may sit back and evaluate why that particular story in their life has been rejected and is it too late to change course before the stories amount en mass.
Project details:
The written story submissions will take place until the end of June 2014 (or longer/shorter depending on response)
The submitted stories will take the place of the pre-printed book pages in the final work
The ultimate end presentation of the work and scale will be dependent on the number of written stories submitted and the site in which the work is installed
A book of these stories is planned as part of the installation, along with an exhibition catalog containing process and installation photos, etc.
Until I have collected written stories over the next year, I will not know exactly what shape the final work will take, it is all very fluid at this point. I plan to seek grant funding to complete the work.
I am hoping to have the submitted written stories to be in such mass quantity that when translated to three dimensional forms that will create the installation- it will literally overwhelm an entire room, but we shall see.