Island Girl
Deirdre Sargent

Malfunctions, fires, and breakdowns have served as the climaxes for Deirdre Sargent’s videos in the past. A question generally remains whether these moments are liberating or futile. At times she seems enamored by the possibility of disorder and entropy, but there also appears to be some doubt whether the idea of spiritual escape might be another pre-packaged stock experience like a tourist vacation with its equally regimented ideas of “exotic” biomes.

Most recently Sargent’s videos have become allegories of our media relationships. They show how images have emerged as our primary sites for experience. Actors watch ever-present screens, demanding us to take the perspectives of others and to confront what others see and how they see it.

These screens take the form not only of TV monitors, but also aquariums, vitrines, and windows. TVs dissolve into glows with the sounds of spectacle as our only remaining indicators. While the appropriated commercial entertainment allows only certain narratives, the “live” frames seem to show alternative relationships to fantasy that invite more empathy. Watching someone else’s TV through their window raises the question of where spaces for fantastic projection exist—where do we live our sanctioned, imaginary lives?

– Gustavo Gordillo

About the Artist
Deirdre Sargent (b. 1985, Boston, MA) is an artist who works with digital imaging, sculpture, and moving image. Her works have been exhibited in numerous shows and screenings in New York City, Brooklyn, Miami, Providence, the Midwest, and elsewhere. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute and an MFA from Yale School of Art.

deirdresargent.net