Sovereignism Amendment #1: the footnote asterisk (2019)

"Two companion video works; an original piece from 2011, and a response piece from 2019. Both filmed on an island of industrial rubble in the Puget Sound of Washington state, USA. Together the videos illustrate an evolving dialogue on how to think about and navigate towards equitable land governance within contemporary post-colonial and neo-colonial contexts, specifically in regards to occupied indigenous lands such as Aotearoa New Zealand, and the deficit of colonial settler accountability around the subject there.

Although the original is an attempt to apply constructive relational dynamics to the subject, it reduces things to a dangerously naive and over-simplified Marxist ideal. The second video, filmed nearly a decade later, attempts to reconcile the critical and ethical failures of its predecessor by offering an amendment to its core equation. A clause of complication that acknowledges the idealistic spirit of the original, but intervenes to recalibrate its foundational ethics and course-correct its critical trajectory.

Together they also reflect on the nature of personal growth and the need to acknowledge, be accountable for, and learn from our mistakes."