Bounty of Duwamish (2020) from Paul Komada on Vimeo.
It is a single channel video included in my solo exhibition, "Monument in Memory: Abstract Alaskan Way" at Gallery 4Culture in Seattle Washington. The exhibition intends to preemptively memorializes the soon to be demolished Alaskan Way Viaduct with image and sound. The narrative of the show is as follows:
The viaduct, an elevated section of State Route 99, established instant character for urban Seattle and its waterfront when it opened to traffic in 1953. From the highway, drivers have a world-class view of Elliott Bay and, from the ground, pedestrians experience the structure's physicality as well as the deafening drone of vehicles coursing through the multiple car lanes above. The sensation of traveling the span has been deeply embedded in the consciousness of Seattleites.
Komada spent the last 18 months walking under and driving over the imposing concrete structure, developing a collection of photographs and field recordings. Employed as source material for his multimedia installation, viewers will be enveloped by a sculptural interpretation of the viaduct and experience the audio and imagery, layered and amplified. With chroma-key technology, Komada also inserts himself into the work, blurring the line between process and performance.
He states, “The exhibition is about Seattle's optimism and relentless appetite for amassing future capital, while simultaneously hinting at the melancholic tug of unfulfilled promises. As I walk and drive the ‘monument,’ my mind races through the history of the city as far back as the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. I find the viaduct fascinating – it is enormous and striking, yet, most of the time people tend to forget its presence. Our perception of its existence shifts depending on our manifold states of mind. It's there, but not really...”