Texas Fragmented

Texas Fragmented was a temporary, site-specific work of light and video projection suspended an otherwise inaccessible corner of City Park, in Ft. Worth, TX.  The disjointedness, visual trickery, and forced perspective of the work references the disorienting complexity of Texas property law and the ongoing fragmentation of rural lands. 

 ‘Texas land laws state that surface and mineral ownership of the same parcel of land can belong to separate people simultaneously.  Consequently, those who own land do not necessarily have control over how the earth beneath their feet is utilized, accessed, or exploited by others. Surface ownership is defined by the parameters set by the depth of a plow’s cut. Mineral ownership, on the other hand, extends all the way to the center of the Earth - a uniquely American construct. Those who believe that Hell is an actual geographical place near the Earth’s mantle must also come to terms with the fact that American land laws allow (or require) mineral owners ipso facto ownership of a little parcel of Hell as well.’   

 For this work, a rectangular piece of turf was ‘extracted’ from the ground and suspended using monofilament several yards away from its source.  A video loop of a paper ‘actor’ (puppet) trying to gain its balance is projected onto a clear acrylic panel so that the image seems to be floating mysteriously in the middle of the field.  Lights are also installed in a suspended fashion to occlude their housing so that they seem to shine without a source.  Breezes make the suspended pieces gently rise and fall.

Media:  monofilament, LEDs, video, landscaping  

Completed: 2009