so we must lie in it is an exploration of grief through the memorialization of victims of mass systemic death in the form of fine art and portraiture, highlighting the scale of loss we experience in the event of mass shootings.
This work was funded by the Ruth Weisberg Prize for Drawing Grant.
At the time this installation piece was made there had been three mass shootings in 2021. This work immerses viewers into a space depicting the victims of the Boulder King Soopers Shooting, Atlanta Spa Shooting, and the Indianapolis FedEx Shooting. Creating the work in an augmented bedroom space leads to these portraits, which act as representations of trauma and violence, to be put in direct juxtaposition with a space traditionally associated with comfort and solace. Mass shootings in this country are the product of systemic injustice and political ineptitude. We dilute these conversations through the use of policy and statistics, which are necessary to the discourse, but more often reject the humanity of the people they represent.