Scaffolding, black and orange construction debris netting, brass, steel rebar, inherited tape measure, chandelier crystals, steel frame
Monstrance: 1.5' x 5'' x 5''
Installation: 12' x 10' x 3'
I broke an old tape measure my grandfather had given to me. Taking it apart, I saw at the end of the tape measurer was blank tape, and thought about the power a tool for understanding something immeasurable could have. Maybe like anything valuable, it could only reflect what the user believed. I’ve been trying to understand impractical beliefs and if we have the power to thoughtfully construct and control them to our benefit. I was raised in a community where guilt and love were taught besides math and science, and many of those inherited beliefs have hurt me as I grew into being a part of them. When I was in first grade, our church was reconstructed. The new one had more contemporary designs and modern opulence, but in tradition, filled with a bounty of powerful natural light. Twice a week, I watched god transform the contents of the holy monstrance, as I held my neighbor's hands and sang. Joining the image of a Catholic monstrance, the vessel for transforming bread into fresh, with a work lamp, a constructor's intensely powerful spotlight, I adorned and blessed the altered tool I had inherited by constructing a sacramental space for it. This was done in the intention that in faith of practicing a belief, this space will allow it to transcend into something more powerful than a choice.