Being There

At High Desert Test Sites HQ

A direct printmaking project about presence, absence, and ephemerality.

Participants were invited to make rubbings either of their surroundings at the Sky Village Swap Meet, or of objects that I had found in the nearby Mojave desert. These rubbings are a type of direct printmaking; the marks are made by repeatedly passing the hand over a surface and picking up minute details. It is very direct, in person, and on site.

Using pigmented wax, graphite or similar media, one transfers the shape and texture of the item being rubbed onto fabric or paper. In the US, this printmaking method is most often used in gravestone rubbings, either to make a permanent record of gravestones that are deteriorating, or as a souvenir.

This work was inspired by both of these uses. As this desert area grows in popularity and visitors, it is also rapidly gentrifying and faces growing environmental challenges. This project provided participants with a physical connection to the site, and a tool for seeing the environment in a deeper and more personal way.

Presented Through High Desert Test Sites at Sky Village Swap Meet in Yucca Valley, California.

2017