Mother May I…? is an interactive sound installation combining mounted speakers, a camera, and motion detection computer programming to set off a series of pre-recorded reprimands as visitors trespass unseen boundaries. Using visual and aural cues that demarcate a site-specific space, visitors must assess how far they are willing to go, and at what cost.

In Mother May I…? audiences enter the gallery to discover subtle visually demarcated boundaries. As audiences literally cross the line from one section to the next, structured sentences (“Get Back! “Watch where you’re going! “ What’s the matter with you? “I’m so disappointed”), or worse, mere onomatopoeias (“ugh!” “tsk tsk”), shame, cajole, mock, and ultimately provoke visitors into action.

During the highly successful premiere installation in Seattle, Washington, audience engagement ranged from wanting to play by the rules to becoming the rebel yell kid who earned status and notoriety by going out of his or her way to break them. Laughter— from guffaws to nervous titters—prevailed, uniting the participants in their common curiosity about the work, and the different ways in which they sought to explore it.

Belonging is one of the most fundamental human needs. Knowing the boundaries—whether you’re willing to break them or not—is central to attaining and maintaining health, security, and economic well-being. The idea of unwittingly breaching social constructs is at the heart of this exploration.

Disappointment, frustration and outright anger can be conveyed through tone, pitch, and volume. In Mother May I…? a variety of recorded languages, prompt participants to step from section to section, their every move countered by an audible reprimand.

The collapse of the emotional and physical boundaries inherent to the human experience is a recurrent theme in my work. From large-scale paintings that immediately disorient viewers, dissolve all sense of place or position and result in an emotional tailspin, to concept driven work that invites strangers to confront their childhood fantasies and fears. Like John Cage, Joseph Beuys, and Felix Gonzales-Torres, my work directly engages participants communally, even as it remains distinctly personal to each audience member. Although initiated by a single creator, audience participation is fundamental to making my work come to life. And while Mother May I…? specifically challenges participants to cross real or imagined boundaries, the work itself goes beyond, to actively breach the divide between artist and audience.

As an adult I’ve changed geographic locations many times and lived in eleven distinctively different cities and communities across the United States, including urban, suburban and rural settings. Each of these moves required learning new local codes of conduct and behavioral norms that could be unwittingly breached. Exist as they may, the social rules that allow one to be accepted into the local community—or rejected from it—are neither visible nor spoken, and therefore, not readily accessible or understood.  Mother May I…? allows audiences to experience risk communally and creates communities through the sharing of visceral experiences. Although the installation is designed to prompt visitors to action, it also invites inter-action, creating a bond of experimentation where formerly there was none.

Mother May I…? plays with the perception of boundaries, allows audiences to sample hissing voices both real and imagined, and asks questions such as: What happens when the rules aren't immediately apparent? What and where is the art? And, do you helplessly violate boundaries, somewhere, with every breath you take? Mother May I…? is about the voices in our heads, and the myriad ways that we confront them as we go out into the wider world.