• P R O J E C T S
• Across the Surface
• The Weight
• Rib Cage
• Getting Strong Now
• The Sheboygan Boxing Project
• When Push Comes
• In Search of Nostalgia
• Havisham
• Desperado
• Saddledrag
• Seeding Project
• To the Moon and Die!
• Warm Guns

• w./ C H E L E I S A A C
• Among My Many Failures
• Westward
• The Death of Peter Pan

• S K E T C H E S
• The Hits
• Mr. September
• Beefcake
• Webcam Self-Portraits

• I N F O
• statement
• cv
• links
• contact
• credits

Gordon v. Gordon: Endless Round

Bessie and Minnie Gordon were performers/ boxers who were recorded in Thomas Edison’s 1901 short film Gordon Sisters Boxing. The film depicts the two women, one in a white ruffled dress and the other in a black ruffled dress, fighting in front of an elaborately painted background of a cultivated garden. The sparring seems more performative than pugilistic, especially when the women stop punching to do 360 degree spins. This particular move seems to function neither tactically nor defensively but rather provocatively, as their dresses flare upward and their knees are revealed. Also confusing the intent of the act, the Gordon Sisters performed their boxing routine not in the context of other athletic exhibitions, but in the context of other female performers, headlining for a burlesque troupe. It is uncertain whether this recording documents a precursor to contemporary women’s mud wrestling, or an attempt at expressing genuine athletic ambition in one of the only ways that could have been viable given the extreme patriarchal culture of the era. This video reformats, excerpts and edits elements Edison’s original film to create a near seamless loop.

Chase

Chase offers a narrative of the physical and emotional intensity that describes an experience with a sport most known for its spectacle. The first-person perspective of this piece asks viewers to place themselves in the position of a boxer in order to illuminate the unexpectedly intimate connection established through the physical force inherent in boxing. Foregrounded here are the rituals of training, the visceral experience of hitting and being hit, the identity politics that direct people towards training, and the ability to choose aggression rather than being the target of aggression. Chase describes the process of understanding the physical violence of training as a generous gesture.

Golden Boys

Golden Boys documents the 2008 National Golden Gloves Tournament. The shot is recorded from below in a close-up that frames the top rope of the ring and the heads and shoulders of the boxers. This piece is a compilation of multiple fights and is edited such that no fixed rivalry is established, rather, a series of fighters continually enter and leave the frame. The video plays at half speed; this, along with the intimate framing of the shot emphasizes and dramatizes the glorified exchange of blows.

Slow Bag

Slow Bag is a fixed shot of a speed bag being hit by a boxer; we see only a close-up of the bag, the fists, and occasionally the boxer’s (my) forearms. The palette of this video is minimal: the speed bag is white and the background is brown and grey. The speed of the punching is slowed to play at a quarter of its original pace. This distorts the sound of the bag being hit, simultaneously creating a rhythm that is meditative and that emphasizes the persistence of the striking.

Wrapping Diary

Wrapping Diary depicts a close-up view of a boxer wrapping her hands, a ritual part of training that must be accomplished before any bag work or striking can occur. The shot frames the boxer from mid-torso to shoulders, and the wrapping is deliberate, meditative, and private.