Culture and identities are interestingly intertwined with ecology. We claim the specificities of certain outgrowths, plants, and other species as a way to shape our social constructs. I've been interested in quite some time in the mythology surrounding the small-scale granite erratic on the coast of Plymouth Massachusetts known as the Plymouth Rock. Experientially it is rather diminutive and utterly dwarfed by the beaux arts canopy design by McKim, Mead and White. Upon approach, you realize the rock is clearly staged and the theatrics are an attempt to emphasize the nativist origin story that certain cultures claim around this piece of geology. In making a full-scale replica of the Plymouth Rock, I'm playing with the longstanding concept of the faux or the decoy of an original. By extracting the Rock from its orchestrated historical space, this mobile device can now be used by any culture to project their own identities on top. My desire is to expose the slipperiness of the historiography of this symbol while puncturing the hegemony of the current belief in the singularity of 'americanness'.

66" L x 42" W x 32" H, with Foam, plywood, plaster, paint, casters