For this installation I wanted to play off the season, and when I heard the title of the show I knew I wanted to do something around the idea of Christmas lights. I took some inspiration from my stepfather who is obsessed with Hallmark movies, and often watches them year round. During this time of religion being overbearing in forming people's ideas (especially in MY lifetime), I wanted to showcase how America has commercially weaponized holidays for capital benefit. I wanted to play on how this holiday season (but also many others) are supposed to show community / comradery, but in turn force “neighbors” away and result in a time of conflict / comparison. I was lucky enough that there was a Christmas tree at the venue that was the perfect model for what I wanted to project on. Additionally, the tree had disco balls on it that reflected light in a snow-like manner that worked well with my show neighbor’s theme of skiing which also had snow. I feel I ultimately lucked out at this show since I was really uncomfortable with how the dress rehearsal went, and I was just in the mindset of “play it by ear” which resulted in something I was genuinely happy with at the end of the day. I do not own a projector so I am unsure with I will return to the medium, but I will say that I really enjoyed working on this project even though I was a little distracted with other academic works.
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