Nature vs Nurture 2019 Study

A project inspired by Kevin Clarke and Horst Wackerbarth's “The Red Couch, A Portrait of America.”

People are fascinating-- there’s so many of us around the world, yet none of us are exactly the same. We are made of the same stuff biologically, but how we function in the world is completely different from person to person.

In order to study the idea of nature vs nurture, I created a nightstand and moved it to different places. By doing this I created pictures that made the nightstand resemble a person. When moved, the nightstand's meaning/personality changed. From there, I installed these pictures of the nightstand into a makeshift bedroom where the photographed nightstand was also present. While sitting in the chair, the audience was able to determine for themselves if the environment changed the object or if the object changed the environment.

Photos in the Installation

Installation

Installation Interaction