Installations Looking-Glass, 2023

Like Lewis Carroll's Alice, questions about identity abound when working with mirrored surfaces. This is an extension of my research into mirrors. I created a teleidoscope, which differ from kaleidoscopes in that the source images come from outside the device instead of inside. The scope is 12" x 40" and was displayed in a room entirely lined with silver foil emergency blankets, with Mylar balloons adding additional curved surfaces. The shape of the teleidoscope creates the very credible illusion of a three-dimensional sphere hovering in front of you. The distortions made possible from this 200-year-old technology serve to unbalance the observer and pulls their focus both away and toward themselves.