The House of Observation started as an exploration of my backyard in Saint Louis in the fall of 2011. My neighbors had had a party which they did not promptly clean up. There was a folding table, cups and cans strewn across the backyard. At the time I was taking an anthropology class that covered methods of Archeology such as the process of laying down a grid, usually of 5m squares, as a way of beginning the excavations. They would then walk up and down the grid covering each square meticulously. I thought it would be a funny and interesting way to start my fall semester by gridding off my backyard and walking to each section to collect, observe the evidence of the presence of mankind. I was surprised as I combed my backyard that there was more trash than just that from the partying neighbors. I found a lot of small bits of glass, plastic, cigarette butts, bottle caps, etc. I began making drawings as a way to catalogue these findings. This turned into a series installations and eventually prints.
