Your Fucking Right IS MY BIGGEST FEAR

Exhibition History

Current Seen: Seeing Change, Small Venue Biennial, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY, 2019, curated by Tate Shaw

Point of Contact, MFA in Photography and Related Media Thesis Show, William Harris Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, 2019

Other News, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, New York (3-Person Show), 2019, Curated by Rick Wester
(Press Release Here)

SPE Media Festival, 2019 SPE National Conference, Cleveland, Ohio

Installation Information

As an immigrant, I do not have the civic right to vote, yet my American son is affected by the decisions of other citizens. My foreign status informs my opinion about civilians’ use of guns. Still, I want my audience to remember that I also speak as a mother and that I’m concerned for the danger that my son is exposed to. In the video, “Your Fucking Right Is My Biggest Fear” (2018), what starts as a whisper turns into an outpouring of my deepest frustration. The self-portrait is composed by the audio of my voice and the single repeated phrase, “Your fucking right is my biggest fear.” The phrase moves, grows, shrinks and breaks in an attempt to mimic the emotion of my voice, an action that is reinforced by the font, size and color of the text. I use grey for a whisper, red when I yell and blue when I cry. Fonts are bold when I’m angry and become thinner as I burst into tears. It is a call to people to step into the helplessness I feel every time there is news about children killed by guns. In this work, I become exposed and vulnerable. The breaking of my sobbing voice also breaks the text phrase. All this affects the viewers, whom at the end become participants with their own emotions.

The 95 seconds video has been presented in a room where spectators could experience my fear as their bodies catch parts of the projection while moving around. A set of two projectors installed over pedestals and controlled by a touch screen laptop allowed the video to be projected over opposite walls. The touch screen laptop was installed in the back wall in order to force the viewer to walk across the room to hit play. The participation of the audience is an important aspect of this work; it is their decision to hit play, as it was my decision to immigrate to this country.

This installation was created as site-specific, but could be easily adapted to new sites. For inquiries please email ile at ileanadobleh for com, or follow the Contact form.