Julie L. Sims, Split Infinities, 2016, pigment inkjet print (edition of 7), 22 x 16 inches
Julie L. Sims, Decohesion, 2017, pigment inkjet print (edition of 7), 18 x 12 inches
Julie L. Sims, Divergent Margin, Cingulate Cortex, 2010, chromogenic print
Julie L. Sims, Solfataric Abyss, Adrenal Medulla, 2010, chromogenic print
Julie L. Sims, Lost (detail), 2006, chromogenic print
ARTIST STATEMENT by Julie L. Sims:
The Uncertainty Principle
In quantum physics the Uncertainty Principle refers to the limits of our ability to precisely measure certain properties of particles, which has led to a hypothesis known as the many-worlds interpretation. Many-worlds denies the existence of a single objective reality, instead suggesting that each possible outcome branches off and unfolds into its own alternate reality, creating the existence of infinite possibilities.
There’s an appeal to this idea… that the choices we didn’t make still exist, that the regrets we have are remedied in another reality, that the paths untaken were in fact traveled by us, that we never have to really close a door, because somewhere another version of us is opening it.
I found myself in a moment of existential ambivalence, both internally and with what I saw going on in the world around me. When confronted by modern existence’s nearly indistinguishable infinity of choices with a correspondent infinity of outcomes, the daily business of living takes on something of a hallucinogenic quality. The paths ahead are never clear-cut, and separating the right from the wrong is ever more complex. What pieces should we keep and build upon, and which will crumble beneath us?
Responding to these feelings I made the piece titled Split Infinities. Two weeks after I completed it I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my world began to fracture even more. As pieces of my physical self were systematically cut away, I felt the possibilities I had looked forward to were closing off, and new, often frightening possibilities I had never imagined began to open up in front of me.
Two years later, I am the same person, but I am not. Slices of who I was are gone. Sureties have been replaced by uncertainties. The landscape ahead has become something I almost no longer recognize, despite its outward similarity to the “normal” I used to know. I can’t tell how all the pieces fit, and am trying to figure out how to measure the properties of my life post-cancer.
I’m so pleased to have my work included in the inaugural edition of @shockofthefemme. SHOCK of the FEMME is an online multimedia magazine featuring women and non-binary writers, artists, + musicians. Head on over to the main page and check out all the fantastic work in this issue. The statement included here is for the top two images, from my most recent series entitled “The Uncertainty Principle.” The third and fourth images are from “Uncharted Territory: Anatomy of a Natural Disaster,” a series that deals with mental health. The fifth and final image is from “Mental Landscapes.” If you’re interested in discovering more about those images these links will take you to the complete body of work including statements for those projects.