History is a line, a method for sorting fact from fiction. I’m interested where that line blurs. I approach the assumed objectivity of history using my own subjectivity. Replacing the authoritative voice of history with my own voice brings cause to question the accuracy, authenticity, and truth of history as it is presented. In my work I deal with the construction of history and the display of the personal within an apparently impersonal past. In one drawing, I redrew all the men with mustaches from an illustrated book of the Civil War, creating my own personal version of the history of the Civil War.In another project, I made field recordings of different historical locations, such as the Hudson River, The Alamo, and the Saint Francis Dam. I had hoped to capture the history of the places in their ambient sounds and make a truthful document of the space. In fact, the recordings became completely subjective. I ended up creating my own sounds that I thought would match the places.With my latest work I have redrawn old maps from Europe. I see maps as historical objects that are read objectively, but are extremely subjective. Their subjectivity are concealed by map-making conventions, such as scale and symbol legends. By redrawing the maps in my own hand I emphasis the personal and arbitrary foundations of history.
