Tyler Hays - Lacuna

There are a whole range of associations made around the fact that use guns to create art. Guns aside, I like to think and understand the work from a wider perspective. I think of these vessels as having withstood the fury of man since that is the struggle many things on Earth are experiencing right now. The gun is a complex symbol and can elicit very different feelings, memories and beliefs depending on your life experience.

No matter your view on firearms, and there are many, they are deeply woven into the culture of humanity symbolizing a complicated landscape of power. That power is what interests me. Literal power is obvious in the work, but there is also a more subtle, psychological dynamic at play. Authority over others and dominance over nature are themes I explore.  What happens when power is coupled with a sense of separateness, such as our relationship with Earth and land?  How does the land respond? These are questions that fuel my work, and I use Earth quite literally to explore them. Her response is set before you.

Many see humanity as above and residing over the natural world. We have come to see the land and our fellow life forms as either a commodity and therefore property, or distinguished by political parties, race and gender. Put simply, we focus on our sense of otherness and often forget our commonalities and shared existence.

Clay is a magnificent mud and in using this material in the way I do, another layer of meaning surfaces, exemplifying our false perceptions of a perceived other. The fury of nature (including man) is inescapable. It hardens at our efforts. It resists. It finds another way but Just as these forms can only take so much, ecosystems and the natural order too can only take so much. I hope this work can start to illuminate our true connection to the land and each other; to begin a conversation about power and its impact on unity and segregation within human culture and beyond it.

I use Earth to record the impact of guns. An empty space, or lacuna, is left behind. Mud turned to glass chronicles our pursuit of control in unexpected ways. The splash of a bullet turned to stone symbolizing an age-old power dynamic and a dream of unity amongst people, and its wider world.