Entombment of the Hive mind

Entombment of the Hive Mind is the culmination of the Hive Mind series of ceramic installations that I have created over the past 2 years. I originally pressed terra cotta into three different plaster molds as a meditative process to transfer my own self-destructive anxieties into the clay, which produced five hundred figures. I began my experience at Josephine Sculpture Park in the spring of 2019 with the intention to simply bury the Hive Mind; but a five pound concrete block caused a life-threatening accident, resulted in a traumatic brain injury, led to months of recovery, and ceased construction of this project completely until 2020. The concrete block became a representation of myself in the tomb, which the figures surround as grave goods (objects that gain usefulness in the afterlife and watch over what has been buried without any intention of recovery). The greenhouse shelters the tomb like a mausoleum, but nature will reclaim and change the installation over time. I have found resolution through burying this sculpture, and will continue to evolve, as my past work and the trauma that prevented me from moving forward in my life has finally been put to rest.