PROJECTS > Institutions

2008 - present

Museums and cultural institutions exist as sources of authority and share a role as both protectors and creators of the stories we tell ourselves; who we are and what we value. In this series, photographs of museum installations, signage and advertisements are presented with altered text. Assuming a straightforward documentary style, the viewer is forced to face aggressive realities of the world we live in under an unexpected context. Part of the promise of a museum is to provide a safe distance at which to observe and passively receive information. By appropriating the authority of 'The Institution,' current social and political issues are given new weight and power. Furthermore, by encountering current topics that have yet to become normalized, we ask: Who will decide the story? A museum or its patrons? A government or its citizens?

Exhibition History:
2008, 2018: Fate, Fortune, Coming Times, New York
2010, Your Story Is Not Our Story, New York
2015, Performance Research Journal

Smithsonian Museum of American History
Washington, D.C.
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2008
Morgan Library
New York City
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2009
Old State House Museum
Boston
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2009
Untitled 
(Artistry of the Undocumented Worker)
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2010
Untitled (Nativism)
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2011
Untitled (History)
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2011
Untitled (Monument)
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2011
Untitled (Museum & Library)
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2012
Untitled (The Single Family Foreclosure)
B/W Engineering Print
20x20 inches
2012
Untitled (American Museum of Natural History)
B/W Engineering Print
20 x 20 inches
2014
Untitled (Sea, Air & Space Museum)
B/W Engineering Print
20 x 20 inches
2014
Untitled (Smithsonian Museum of American History)
Digital C-Print
20 x 20 inches
2015