Teen Dream is an installation that came to life for a one-night-only event in early May 2018. Through the intensive excavation of personal belongings and excerpts from my adolescent diaries, Teen Dream aims to address questions of identity that are woven into the framework of my formative teenage years. I experienced the ages between thirteen and eighteen in the late 1990s and early 2000s, right at the cusp of significant technological advances and the advent of widespread Internet use, and at the cusp of a war with the Middle East.
Teen Dream is represents this time period; colors, lights, and sounds draw viewers into this reimagined environment comprised of memories. With three audiovisual works depicting teen heartthrobs, vignettes of remembered thoughts, reflections on the death of a friend, and digitally collaged pages of my personal diary, the private has been made public. A CRT TV monitor cycles through homemade videos from this period, inviting the viewer to see my life unfold, unedited, on screen. My research for Teen Dream primarily centered on the works of Sophie Calle and studies on the role our memories play in reconstructing our lived experiences. Teen Dream functions as an entry point into the past, allowing viewers to consider what they might uncover from their own private memories.