535 Tide Cycles (December 26, 1986 to September 28, 1987), 2020
Single-channel video, watercolor and water collected from Ocean Beach in February, 2020
hand-painted on clear plastic 16mm film leader, projected and re-recorded digitally, sound,
9 min 9 sec (45 sec excerpt)
On the day before I was born, my mother went swimming at Ocean Beach.
This is a record of the tide cycles that passed there in the 9 months she was pregnant
with me, a trace of salt water, and my attempt to arrive at the color of the Pacific Ocean.
I paint watercolor mixed with water collected from Ocean Beach onto clear 16mm
film, frame by frame, to translate oceanographic data, published by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, charting the high and low tides that took place
at Ocean Beach in San Francisco between December 26, 1986 and September 28, 1987.
The sound is an edited recording of the 16mm projector projecting the marked film.
The video is a recording of the 16mm projection, edited digitally.
As installed in Streetlight at Roman Susan Foundation in Chicago, March 8th-28th, 2021
Documentation courtesy of Roman Susan Foundation
