Natura

2011 – Mixed Media Animation, 2:54 minutes

While reading Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura (an epic poem 58 B.C.E) and a study, On the Perception of Small Differences, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania in 1889-91 I was invited for a residency project and exhibition at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Together with the workshop staff I produced 2000 procedural drawings using egg white, green dye, synthrapol (soap) and ink on synthetic paper. The drawings were then photographed, cataloged by type, and reordered to create effects of animation. I created a synchronized sound composition with prepared piano and recordings of my son as he was learning to distinguish and form vowel sounds. The animation relates to the way that we perceive and learn types as we are introduced to subtle variations, whether they are visual or aural.