I Was Here

Against the steady forms of the physical landscapes around us—horizon lines of mountains, hills and plains, seascapes and coastlines—the millennia of life and centuries of human activity drift past like clouds. And even the geology of the world doesn’t hold still, though its constant change is at scales of time and magnitude that are near impossible to fathom.

How, I wondered, could I model the ephemeral nature of existence while still recognizing, even commemorating, the mighty bit-part that every life plays in the passage of time?

So began the idea of I Was Here.

In this project (so far undertaken for four select time periods in three countries), I create a large gauzy, hand-stitched “timepiece,” literally marking out the weeks or months I spend in a set geographical location. In parallel with the ongoing stitching, I take the piece—a stand-in for my presence—out of the studio and into the local surroundings to photograph it interacting with all the previous markers of time, from geology and human history to the seasonal changes in the environment.

Out in the world, each airy timepiece engages with the moment, the place and, I like to think, all the absent presences spiriting the location. Sometimes the piece is wild and energetically alive. Other times it simply relaxes into the moment, serene in this small moment on the stage.