Pattern Recognition

Pattern Recognition is a series of looped video footage that I collected in Southwestern Virginia during the summers of 2006 and 2007. These tableaus reflect my exploration of pattern, ranging from those I found in the rural Appalachian landscape to performed patterns, like human habits and gestures that I recorded while interviewing friends and family. During this process of collecting, I realized that it was important for me to distance my video camera from the stereotypes of rural America, and rather, focus on the visual aspects of what makes Appalachia unique and captivating. This approach has guided me towards constructing narratives that are more expressive than representational and more archeological than cinematic. The video is edited in various ways to highlight specific moments of pattern. In many cases I found that speeding up, slowing down or stacking clips side-by-side, made the patterned instances more evident. In this sense, I approach editing as an expressive language for video, where my formal and conceptual decisions are brought to the surface.

The video is edited in various ways to highlight specific moments of