Historical Fictions
Developed as part of Masters of Fine Art thesis at the University of Victoria, Historical Fictions (2022) are fictional vessels which reconstruct a fragmented artifact advertised on Facebook Marketplace as “This beautifully preserved large bronze handle from ancient Greece is dated circa 500 B.C.” These reconstructions are fictional and take the literary genre of historical fiction as a guiding framework combining elements of reality or truth with aspects of complete fabrication intertwining both historical understandings and contemporary perspectives. The vessels themselves are bronze/plastic hybrid 3D prints modeled algorithmically by developing a system which maintained the 3D data of the artifact handle as a constant through all iterations and influenced surrounding parameters to take on more contemporary forms.
Much of the direction of this work and the speculative lens of historical fiction which it utilizes is an examination of the creative interpretation of truth and the subjectiveness of all historical reconstructions. While truth can be a confusing term wrapped up in questions of reality, authenticity, legitimization, and fiction, especially in the context of a faux museum space with fake artifacts, the creative latitude to navigate that boundary allows for something potentially more profound to come of the reconstructive process while also making consideration for the interpretation of a set of multiple pasts if not acknowledging the full extent of the unknowability of history.
Historical Fictions
2022
Historical Fictions (Lisboa)
Inspired by a fragment of gilded wood found in Lisbon's Feira da Ladra market while on residency, these objects are speculative reconstructions and re-imaginings of what this fragment may have potentially come from. These reconstructed forms are the result of an algorithm developed to construct forms based on 3d scanned geometric data. While only three versions are presented here, this algorithmic system of creation has been developed to create thousands of unique and variable objects.
Historical Fictions (Lisboa)
2022
