By Alysse Schultheis
Executive Editor
On October 8, artist and Sewanee alum Nicki Davis gave a talk and had a reception at the
Carlos Gallery in the Nabit Art Building for her video installation. After Spending much of her life on a farm in rural Tennessee, her work emphasizes strong bonds between home, family, and earth. In Awake, Adream, Asleep, Davis says, “I engage in a conversation between my conscious and unconscious self, both who promise to take you to the place alluded to in the previous works. The two voices are leading the viewer to an abandoned home, yet they follow very different paths, signifying our complicated relationship to lost places.”
She communicates “the relationship between humans and the environment by creating a rich sensory experience for the viewers”. The video reflects from the windows of an abandoned home as two voices lead the viewer. The audio installation consists of four speakers, creating a surround-sound effect as the viewer travels through the sensory journey Davis creates. A rotating video projection complements the audio, which streams through the windows of the house and continuously sweeps across the room. The installation view brings moves slowly through the room, then fades away, connecting to the lost memory in the unconscious mind. Together the video and audio communicate a dream just out of reach in the unconscious mind that the conscious attempts to capture.
Davis is a New York-based artist working with video and sound installations. After receiving her B.A. in Studio Arts from Sewanee, she completed her M.F.A degree at the University of Cincinnati in 2010. The exhibit will be open for viewing in the Carlos Gallery Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. until November 9.