2015, wood, drywall, plaster, latex paint, VHS tape, astroturf, and digital film, dimensions variable
This work was installed at the New Wight Gallery at UCLA as part of MFA #2
In astronomy, accretion describes a process by which matter falls onto a black hole, spinning around it, heating up, before finally falling through the event horizon, the boundary of no return. Cygnus X-1 and HDE 226868 are an existing black hole and star binary system, orbiting the barycenter between them. As they orbit each other, Cygnus X-1 rips gas from the surface of HDE 226868. The star will eventually be completely consumed by the black hole. The installation pictured is an abstract representation of this process of accretion, while the accompanying film, Cygnus X-1 presents a human and cosmic narrative inspired by the events of the black hole binary.