Place Mattes

1987, 7:36 min, color, sound, 16 mm film on video

Traveling mattes of the artist's torso, limbs, and extremities in Puget Sound, Yosemite and the Yucatan. Her attempt to "touch" nature is removed and blocked between figure and ground setups by the optical printer's flatness of planes.

As the figure and ground are presented as two planar relationships, flattened and made two-dimensional through optical printing, so the artist (figure) is unable to touch the natural environment (ground) in Puget Sound, Yosemite and the Yucatan, yet finally comes to rest in the interior space of a restaurant.

Sound Score: Terry Setter