Reflection and Refraction

A temporary site specific installation in an old fish shack.
Reflective Mylar, debris/found materials
LaHave, Nova Scotia
October, 2021

Upon entering the space, an individual will encounter flickering refractions of light, undulating, dancing on the partial roof above them; this refraction is mirrored back and repeated below. Closer inspection will reveal the reflection of the structure surrounding them, and their own body, in shifting distortions, and fleeting moments of fragmented clarity. Although mirror images make objects and matter appear to be where they cannot be, the images are not figments of our imagination. I’m interested in this tension between reflection as illusion or disorientation, and reflection as insight, revelation and expansion.

When something becomes familiar in the landscape of daily life it becomes subsequently easier to overlook. In the case of this structure, one that is well known but is paid little attention: its structural qualities and the space it occupies seem to exist in the periphery. I find this comforting. This work is a contemplation of privacy within community; an effort to create a refuge for reflection which allows and accepts flux and disorientation in perception. The intent here was to provide an extension of personal space, and allow anyone who stumbled upon the space a private moment to contemplate, perhaps dislocate, then subsequently relocate themselves where they are.