amber bassford
annelise berger
elijah bullard
emma burke
charmaine chan
sarah frizzell
ella hodges
sam hudgins
harry kyle
ashley marquardt
nate perry
taylor sampson
2025, Multi-media installation
i lay in my bed, trying to make sense of the shadows and beams cast across my apartment’s walls. my nearsightedness offers no help, jumbling any semblance of a recognizable object into a blur of lights and darks. a distant streetlamp flickers to illuminate new silhouettes across the smooth, undecorated surface.
my vision exists within me, yet it is impossible to articulate without my years-old, wire-framed, sam’s club glasses. the worn lens coatings trade the familiar blur for a striking glare, simultaneously creating clarity and introducing new imperfections. a divot in the glass draws my attention just as much as a patch of paint on the wall, likely reapplied by the person who experienced these same flickers and beams before me.
my vision exists within me, but it is mediated by my experience, my unique existence in my physical body in this moment—seeing the lights, hearing the hum, feeling the cushion of my mattress against my flesh. my consciousness knows nothing outside of what this tangible human form can provide, nothing beyond the yearning of my senses to understand, to learn, to know.
my eyes see the blur of lights and darks, a glimpse of a distant streetlamp flickering. but they also see the glare, the recognition of the possibility that a different reality exists as easily as seeing through a new lens.