Heavy
Heavy is a sculptural installation designed to raise awareness about sexual assault on college campuses. Made of found concrete and naturally occurring rocks pieced together, the sculpture forms a spiral. Starting with small pieces of concrete and rocks, the wall increases in height with larger pieces and ends again in the center with smaller pieces. The installation represents the number of sexual assaults that are estimated to occur on college campuses in correlation to the number of enrolled students at the University of New Orleans. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates that roughly 12 percent of students, both male and female, will experience sexual assault at some point during their college careers. There are about 8,300 students enrolled at UNO, therefore I used approximately 1,080 pieces of rocks and concrete. The NCVS estimates that only 10 percent of assaults are reported. Since 90 percent of assaults occurring on campuses are not reported, I painted 102 pieces red, or ten percent of my total, to highlight the disparity in assaults reported.
The shape of the spiral speaks to how individual assaults emanate from rape culture as a whole. Since women experience sexual assault at a much higher rate than men, I chose the shape of a spiral because of its feminine symbolism, representing lifecycle and fertility. Moreover, spirals often represent a journey and an unfolding path, which leads to a source or a center. The center here is a small rock indicating how miniscule aggressions towards women turn, like the spiral of a hurricane, into something larger, more destructive. Here, I have the spiral stand as a symbol of feminine resilience, forever turning despite the heavy weight we carry.
Concrete and naturally occurring rocks are pieced together to create tension between man-made and natural. This tension is apparent in assaults, which are essentially man-made yet occur so often they become almost a natural part of life, particularly for women. These stones represent the weight of sexual assault that survivors carry, the weight of what it means to perpetuate rape culture in society. The rocks are different sizes and shapes to represent the differences in each assault story.
Heavy is my first large-scale installation piece. My personal struggles with sexual assault and the realization of how wide spread the problem is motivated this piece. It is also inspired by the Berlin Jewish museum installation of Fallen Leaves by Menashe Kadishman, who used thousands of screaming faces made out of metal to harness the scope of Jewish lives lost during the Holocaust. My goal was to accomplish this effect by visibly showing how many assaults take place on campuses. Heavy was also influenced by Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Smithson used over 6,000 tons of black asphalt to shape a spiral in the natural environment. He created the spiral as a path to be walked and experienced. I wanted Heavy to function in a similar way. Although not able to be walked as a path, Heavy sits in a patch of grass on UNO’s campus which draws attention as it disrupts the usual views of building and mundane campus life. I placed solar lights inside the spiral so that it is visible at night, the time when sexual assaults are most likely to occur. Similar to Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Heavy is subject to the will of nature. The rocks balanced together will last only as long as the environment, including students, will allow it.
Heavy taught me how to plan for a large-scale project but also how to allow the work to change as it develops. I originally wanted to use only naturally occurring rocks but southern Louisiana does not geographically lend itself to have many rocks. Therefore, I decided to use what New Orleans has plethora of, concrete. Our roads and pavement are in a constant state of upheaval and using these pieces seemed not only necessary for the completion but also fitting. Additionally, I had to “listen to the pieces” as I installed them. This is a phrase coined from Andy Goldsworthy who creates nature installations. Some pieces balanced together naturally, while others I would try to force and they would collapse causing a domino effect to the entire structure. I spent many hours collecting rocks and concrete around the city, which was physically demanding but also mentally taxing. The installation itself took upwards of six hours to place all the pieces and doing so in thirty-degree weather was not an easy feat. In retrospect, the only change I would make would be to count the pieces as I collected them. This mistake cost me some hours, as I had to separate the rocks and concrete into piles and count them in my backyard. Overall, Heavy was an accomplishment. I had a wild idea to use over a thousand rocks to show the number of assaults and I saw the idea through in the exact way I had imagined.
Much of my work deals with social issues such as sexual assault and female trauma. This piece was successful in igniting conversation about campus sexual assaults and has inspired me to continue creating installation work that deals with similar issues. Originally graduating with a Bachelor’s in Sociology, I am interested in the raw human experiences we share across society and how to show these experiences and emotions in a compelling visual manner. This theme resonates throughout my work. My goal as an artist is to create work that touches on social issues in a way that is digestible by all.
If you or someone you know has experienced a sexual assault and is seeking help please contact University of New Orleans counseling services at 504-280-6683, NOPD Special Victim’s Unit at 504-658-5800, Metropolitan Center for Women and Children (24/7) at 504-837-5400, or New Orleans Family Justice Center (24/7) at 504-592-4005.
