Being There
2017
A direct printmaking project about presence, absence, and ephemerality. High Desert Test Sites HQ
Participants were invited to make rubbings either of their surroundings at the Sky Village Swap Meet, or of objects that I found in the nearby Mojave desert. The 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. In the US, this printmaking method is most often used in gravestone rubbings, either to make a permanent record ahead of deterioration, or as a souvenir.
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 different way.
Presented Through High Desert Test Sites at Sky Village Swap Meet in Yucca Valley, California.
Workshop documentation above.Below: a collection of objects found in the desert as part of this project
