Fever Dreams Artist Talk: Lindsey Hammerle, Carly McCartney

black background with hot looking letters in red and orange spelling "fever dreams"

Date and Time

Tue Jun 4, 2019 1:00pm

Lindsey Hammerle

This work is a translation of confrontation and contradiction within myself. Through the lenses of gender, sexuality, and performance, I create a system of symbols to question my subconsciously developed ideologies.

During adolescence I was constantly told what to do with my body. I was told to be skinny, to be clean, to not show too much skin, that I was too young to wear red lipstick or use tampons, and if I didn’t join track and field I would regret it later in my old age. Since I was born in a female body these stereotypes were forced onto my identity.  

Rebellion became my form of resistance and my relationship with my body became performative. Wearing more and more outlandish outfits, I was drawn toward my presentation and fashion, eventually discovering a local group of drag performers who became my community. Drag allowed me to examine the performative aspect of my personality, specifically the personification of division and opposition.  

This work likewise is divided in two parts that exist in a constant binary. The video projection of soft lights and sensual textures is juxtaposed with rat sculptures, stitched-together assemblages of dried fruit. Connecting them is a constant lulling soundscape of pulsing bass, rustling fabric and distant voices. The inner conflict of conditioned and conscious roles becomes a discourse of opposite media, an interplay that refuses to harmonize.

Carly McCartney

Cradled or cradling, my kinetic light and sound sculptures need interaction to be complete. Colored light and shadows dance as you turn a larger-than-life stained glass spinner on a fulcrum of handcrafted musical instruments composed of found objects, skeletal wood and bronze fish bells.  Below the spinner, viewers are dappled by its vibrant glowing pattern. Above, they are reflected by its mirror. Alongside, an immersive video projection wraps viewers, a child-size puppet and its chair in a mesmerizing collage of pulsating colors and light. Lifted from the chair or resting in your arms, the limp puppet becomes a musical instrument when you strum its strings. Its mirror mask reflects its player, who is also a canvas for the projection. Together, the sculptures and surreal video projections compose a flowing system of sound, motion and light.

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