Dcode/Ncode

As a people, we appear to have an unquenchable desire to make sense of the world around us. Our reality, indeed our very success, depends on our ability to decode it. One way we do this is by rewriting or narrating stories, both fiction and -non, that explain the constant barrage of input into our senses. We even write stories about those things we can't directly perceive through our senses. The story of Plato’s cave reminds us that we have always been decoding machines, stringing together sensory information to write a narrative that we come to believe is the truth. This rewriting, or encoding, often traps us. New knowledge unmasks our errors. Dcode/Ncode, is my effort to decode important information and ideas in my life and then rewrite or encode them in a way that makes sense in my reality, my narrative.

It Rings True

scroll, noun, \'skrol\
a: a roll (as of papyrus, leather, or parchment) for writing a document
b. archaic: a written message
Merriam-Webster

The scroll art is made of player piano rolls that were once used to make beautiful music. Sounds were encoded onto their surfaces with intricate little holes in the shapes of dots and dashes. These now silent perforations were a perfect backdrop for me to explore a world of symbols, language and, ultimately, paradoxical ideas. I appropriated somewhat obscure quotes that I felt revealed human truths, an unveiling, if you will, of larger observations about the human condition. I then re-transcribed or encoded the text. First, I changed each word into Morse Code, which coincidentally also relies on dots and dashes. The actual dots and dashes were then re-transcribed, or re-coded using only the letters A, D, H, O, S, and T. These letters were used to spell the words, DOT and DASH. I then collaged the words, DOT and DASH, according to Morse Code, to re-encode the actual quote. Combined, the compositions contain letters that are a cipher glued to a scroll encoded for sound. I hope they reflect my keen interest in the great implausibility of life and how, as a people, we try to make sense of it.

2018
Scroll, St. John of the Cross
81” h x 13” w x 3” d
Collage on player piano scroll

"To reach satisfaction in all
desire its possession in nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to possess all
desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all
desire to be nothing."

St. John of the Cross

2018
Scroll, Blaise Pascal
78” h x 25” w x 3” d
Collage on player piano scroll

"What a chimera then is man!
What a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos,
what a contradiction, what a prodigy!
Judge of all things, feeble earthworm,
repository of truth, sewer of uncertainty and error,
the glory and scum of the universe."

Blaise Pascal,
French theologian, mathematician, and physicist

The Meaning Eludes Me

braille, noun, \ˈbrāl\
: a system of writing that uses characters made up of raised dots.
Merriam-Webster

2019
Touching Story I
39” h x 78" w

Sewn collage of braille