Evidence, 1989-90
24" x 38" x 12", One of a kind
Wall Installation, Wooden Box, Silver-prints
Recollections of traumatic events can lack cohesion since they are a mixture of intense emotions and personalized perceptions. The resulting narrative is often fragmented and contains flaws and irregularities in the sequencing of actions or details. Grant's three-dimensional book, Evidence, provides a participatory experience of such an occurrence. The work is a telling parable of the mutability of history and the evidence of which it is composed.
Evidence, was created for "Memory," an exhibition curated in 1988 by Jeff Kelly at the University of Texas-Arlington. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, invited artists were asked to create works based on their memories of the event.
The book is comprised of several components, all connected to an appropriated still of the Presidential motorcade from the famous Zapruder film: an orderly grid of forty small hooks protruding from the wall; a small shelf below the grid; the iconic Zapruder photo lying on the shelf under Plexiglas; and a box inscribed with a single word, "EVIDENCE."
The box contains forty dusty, wooden disks with a single hole in each. The disks have quotes from various investigations printed on one side and fragments of the Zapruder image on the reverse.
The reader can arrange the images to reproduce the Zapruder still or assemble the disks in any number of ways. Those who participate with the pieces are left with a barely noticeable, powdery gray residue resembling gun powder on their hands.
Evidence is a puzzle with a variety of solutions. Remove the disks from the box and hang them on the hooks to loosely re-create the photograph. Or, turn them over and assemble the pieces of text to tell a story. Or, mix images and texts for an entirely different perspective. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the texts, or quoted pieces of evidence, are contradictory. The more pieces of "evidence" that are physically touched, i.e. uncovered, by the reader, the more confounding are the chances for clarity.