24 VIEWS is a longitudinal drawing series that investigates the history of racial classification through US Census data. It is so named for the 24 censuses conducted thus far. The drawings visualize demographic information on race, ethnicity, immigration, and citizenship from 1790 to 2020, and will continue so long as I am willing and able. 24 VIEWS problematizes race-based language by examining the evolution of federal race and ethnicity standards as an archive of structural racism.
Each drawing starts via data compilation from the Census Bureau Archive. The racial terms used in these documents reflect their context and should be viewed critically as historical actors. Race data is then calculated by percentage and translated into a pie chart with the sky holding at a constant 50% to establish the horizon line and the indifference of the cosmos under an infinite magnitude of time. The data is rendered through an ocean shoreline in reference to human displacement, movement, and constant states of political and tangible change, paralleled by shifts in linguistic usage. Each drawing is then titled by a year and a verb that reflects a major historical event from that decade.
Each drawing starts via data compilation from the Census Bureau Archive. The racial terms used in these documents reflect their context and should be viewed critically as historical actors. Race data is then calculated by percentage and translated into a pie chart with the sky holding at a constant 50% to establish the horizon line and the indifference of the cosmos under an infinite magnitude of time. The data is rendered through an ocean shoreline in reference to human displacement, movement, and constant states of political and tangible change, paralleled by shifts in linguistic usage. Each drawing is then titled by a year and a verb that reflects a major historical event from that decade.
24 VIEWS, so named for the number of counts conducted thus far, is a living and expansive social project that destabilizes the purported objectivity of race data, yet acknowledges its political influence on self-identification and historical reckoning. Through this project, I would also like to imagine the possibility of one’s body as unmarked and no longer conditional on whiteness.
24 VIEWS was exhibited at Spring Valley Public Library (LVCCLD) from October - December 2020 at recently at Left of Center Gallery in North Vegas May - August 2021.
GALLERY
