Artist Statement
Our universe is fluid. Everything in it will experience a change in form, either in a moment of violence or through a gradual transition. When the composition of an object is altered, or its component parts exchanged, that object may still be recognizable, yet it is different. As objects accumulate difference, at some point they cross a threshold where they are no longer recognizable. But, in all the time before that threshold, is it the same object?
In the course of maintaining an old ship, the crew, over many years, replaces every original plank of wood. The sails are eventually replaced, all the equipment, even the crew conducting the maintenance eventually move on. The ship may look just as it had decades prior, flying the same flag and registered under the same name, but are you really left with the same ship? This might be easily internalized with regards to a boat, but what does it mean for a conscious being like yourself? Every atom in your body has been changed out many times over during the course of your life as you have grown and aged. What does it mean for your sense of self when you retain memories, a singular consciousness and a consistent internal narrative for longer than you retain any physical matter? Matter flows through our universe, temporarily condensing into compositions we recognize before flowing on again.