“Drift” is an installation that took place in multiple locations, from Portland, Maine to Memphis, Tennessee throughout the years since 2019. The rocks included in the work have been found from years of beach combing, a practice I have been practicing since I was very young with my mother and cousins in Long Island, New York. I maintain and carry with me this collection of rocks, moving them myself from installations then back to my studio, and so on.

This installation and over all practice speaks from my experiences at the intersection of geography, geology, and spirituality. The process of maintaining the collection of rocks is a kin to falling in and out of love, because we do not collect every rock that we see. We catch a glance and feel a flip in our gut when the right rock has been found. It feels like the sun is in our belly. One of the more subtle forms of grief that I have learned from keeping this collection comes from when I fall out of love with the rocks. I noticed this part of the process when I looked at a rock I was carrying home, and realized I was no longer able to remember where the rock was found. It was like forgetting the face of someone I once held dear and close, and shared a way of warmth. It was sad, but easy, and natural.

The rocks are balanced by myself, and I do not use any adhesives or structures to maintain their form. The only elements that are activated are the rocks and gravity, meeting at a point of repose. Where they are situated is intuited during varying sets of time; these sessions are a form of aesthetic prayer. The color is pigments I shave from chalk pastels, in a quiet, simple, and expressive labor, and the selected hue responds to balance the preexisting hues in the room. Over time, the rocks and shaved pigments ultimately transform as they are moved by drafts and subtle seismic tremors in the region of their temporary placement.