Splintered Rhythms Series, 2021

The Splintered Rhythms series is in direct communication with the final and whole projection mapped video Alight & Awaken. The communication between the two is a conversation between part and whole. The video is a blend of live action aerial footage of forests during the four seasons, obscured by data visualizations of tree forest data that correspond to the four major regions of the US. The audio is a sonified version of the same datasets.

Rhythm as a word was very intentional in its selection for the title of this series. Circadian rhythms are the studied psychological phenomena of human sleep/wake cycles. These cycles operate on a 24 hour loop, and go on to dictate many of the ways we interact with the world through conscious and unconscious states. The concept of cyclical movement through environmental forces is evident in this work. But through this series, I began to ask, what if these rhythms do not align? What happens when the circle breaks?

Cycles, while demonstrated as a natural part of both physiology and environmental timekeeping, can also be toxic and designed to be broken. A broken cycle, such as the increasing temperatures affecting the seasonal weather shifts are artificially broken, splintered if you will, and can also be a symptom of toxicity in itself. This series seeks to ponder the rhythmic cycles meant to be revered and preserved, while also considering the cycles of toxicity, both physically and mentally, when approaching our degrading environment.

This artwork is part of a collection of artworks produced for my Master’s Thesis.