I Dream of Fish
I Dream of Fish is a video essay that debuted in the exhibition LAND/SEA curated by Mike Calway-Fagen for Stove Works in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The video combines a 4000-word essay with video footage taken inside the “River Journey” Building at the Tennessee Aquarium. The video is one of my first biographical pieces; starting with memories of fishing at five-years-old and leading up to recent conversations with my husband. The essay explores the symbolic nature of dreams and the potential symbolism of memories. The piece also reveals how critical local landscapes are as places for interpersonal connections and as agents of spiritual growth.
The opening scene of the piece features an expanse of the Tennessee River as it flows past the aquarium in Chattanooga. The remaining sequences feature video and the ambient audio of the various spaces and fish tanks inside the Tennessee Aquarium. Many of the species of fish mentioned in the essay make an appearance in the footage, almost like characters synced to perform the text. The audio of the video vacillates from silence to exclamations made by visitors to the aquarium.
