O’er the ramparts we watched, waiting
2024, Installed at American University Museum, 2025
84 x 60 x 42 inches, cast concrete, polypropylene sandbags, 3000+ lbs sand
Drawing both on the historical use of sandbags to shield cultural monuments during the world wars and their increasing presence in urban architecture due to prolonged flooding events, I engage with the tension between fragility and resilience in times of conflict.
The Weight of Paradise (I Wish You Were Here)
2016-2019
64 x 30 x 15 inches, hand-carved marble, marble chips, marble dust, polypropylene sandbags, and a 1-minute, 17-second video-mapped projection.
Captivated by the paradisal projections of sunset, a figure lays heavy and buried under the weight of their inaction. Yet glitches begin to reveal themselves, proving that the saccharin-sweet story being consumed isn't all that it seems.
The head of the sculpture was carved by Kassewitz while she lived in Italy (2015-2016) during a marble carving residency in Carrara with master sculptor Boutros Romhein.