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concordances |
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By definition, a concordance is a device that takes the principal words of a document and arranges them alphabetically in a vertical spine to cross on the horizontal with the passage or line in which each word occurs. In the three concordance works here, I have adapted the device to combine words from Trump’s words at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021 text with words from other politicians and writers of foundational documents in American history. In each of the three concordances, Trump's words form the vertical red spine. The black horizontal lines are formed with words that recontextualize the tumultuous time surrounding the 2020 presidential election and in particular the events of January 6. The recontextualization helps to frame questions about the role of history and historical documents at a time when the leadership of the United States ignores them. The three concordances were installed as wall texts in Riggs Gallery at the Maryland Institute College of Art in the summer of 2021. A room of large loud text surrounded the viewer while the sounds of erasure filled the space from the installation of palimpsest in the adjoining room. From the room with the wall texts, battlefield was installed nearby. A viewer could read the texts while the projected news media photograph of the flags borne by January 6 protestors could be seen degrading into a black and white wall drawing of flagpoles. see more of palimpsest here see more of battlefield here The wall texts lived a second life as they were deinstalled. As I scraped away most of words composing the central spine, along with some of the surrounding horizontal lines, a new image emerged. The large loud wall texts were transformed into something more quiet. Removing the spine created a visible divide in the concordance - making manifest the divisiveness that underlies recent American politics. |
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and if you don't fight like Hell
digital image 2021 Sources: Donald Trump, 2021 speech at Ellipse; United States Constitution; George Washington, 1796 Farewell Address; Barack Obama, 2008 speech at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Founders Day Gala; Abraham Lincoln, 1865 Second Inaugural Address; James Madison, 1787 Federalist Paper No. 10; Robert Kennedy, quoting John F. Kennedy see more on the sources for this work here (coming soon!) |
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you won't have a country anymore
digital image 2021 Sources: Donald Trump, 2021 speech at Ellipse; Hillary Clinton, 2016 concession speech; Thomas E. Dewey, 1948 concession speech; Abraham Lincoln, 1858 speech at Illinois Republican State Convention; John McCain, 2008 concession speech; Al Gore, 2000 concession speech; Richard M. Nixon, 1960 concession speech; George H.W. Bush, 1991 concession speech see more on the sources for this work here (coming soon!) |
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we're going to walk down
digital image 2021 Sources: Donald Trump, 2021 speech at Ellipse; A. Phillip Randolph speech, March on Washington, August, 1963; Kamala Harris speech, Women’s March in Washington, DC, January 2017; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speech, March on Washington, August, 1963; Gloria Steinem speech, Women’s March in Washington, January, 2017; Daisy Bates speech, March on Washington, August, 1963; John Lewis speech, March on Washington, August, 1963; House Resolution Impeaching Donald Trump, President of the United States, January 13, 2021 see more the sources for this work here (coming soon!) |