Sand turns to powder as the tires grind into the ground. I swing wide to get lined up to the excavator bucket, my eyes automatically flowing to my driver side mirror as I put the Caterpillar 775E haul truck into reverse. The excavator bucket begins to move directing my haul truck to the place it is needed. My sole focus is on the excavator bucket to guide me, trusting that it will not lead me off an edge or into a wall. The sound of the horn signals me to stop. He uncurls the bucket to drop the dirt into the bed of the truck.
Native Georgia resident, Tiffany Pounds has created an environment portraying her complex sibling relationship and drug addiction’s effects on herself and her brother. Giving a particular face to an insidious epidemic that is affecting the nation.
Walls are covered in lines that indirectly leads the viewer to the bathroom. Lines that the artist formed by tracking over canvas with a 330 Caterpillar excavator– a direct mark left by a machine that is used as a form of non-verbal communication between Pounds and her older brother. For Pounds, the tracks represent the bond formed between them after childhood while working together and the indirect dialogue that occurs on a construction site. In an open space that does not force communication but accepts it.
The bathroom is a confining space, a personal and private room that pushes the audience closer to one another. This intimate interaction undergirds the vulnerability being felt in the video projection. The documentary-style video explores Pounds’ brothers drug addiction. This nostalgic space replicates Pounds’ childhood of taking refuge in the bathtub when storms occurred. The viewer can enter the bathtub to view the projection or sit on the commode to observe the candid conversation unfold.
Tiffany Pounds is currently attending Savannah College of Art and Design and will graduate in the spring of 2020. She attended the Averitt Center for the Arts for theater
training and visual art classes from 2015-2016. Her work has been exhibited in the Savannah College of Art and Design Showcases and the Alexander Collective Exhibits around Savannah. Pounds’ work was also exhibited in two separate group exhibitions in Lacoste, France while studying abroad. She currently lives in Adrian, GA. Her studio is in her home. Pounds plans on showing her work in rehabilitation centers locally.