“This video begins with a slow upward movement over a field of white eggshells, as it transitions into a single quiet stream of running water on a black ground. Two hands enter the frame and the daily cycle of the removing of the inner membrane of the eggshells begins. Multiple hands appear and disappear in three vertical frames doing a similar activity, at times reflective and at others times increasingly agitated. By the end of the video the viewer senses the effects of time passing and that a significant shift has occurred.

Employing a narrative structure, this work condenses a process I have gone through for more than 25 years, in the daily washing and removal of the shell membrane of eggshells my family and I consume. Began in the first instance out of necessity, as many rituals are, I found I had to remove the shell membranes to prevent my collection from becoming invested with small insects. The cleaning process, at first done slowly and deliberately, overtime began to become automatic, done more quickly, and even at times in a totally detached and frenetic manner. Issues related to the type of eggs we consume and water consumption during this time became of increasing concern.

In a time of rapid change coupled with an increasingly precarious environmental situation, it is hoped that this work will serve as a reflection on time, transformation, and the role of ritual in our lives, and serve to link aspects of daily ritual to personal and societal change.” (Zeigler)

Suggested volume for viewing.

This work is comprised of three video screens on which different images appear of a seemingly senseless activity, the repetitive washing of eggshells, and the removable of their inner membranes. Accompanied by the quiet sound of running water, the timing of the three-looped videos on the three screens constantly changes, placing the relationship among the video images in a constant state of flux.

Both meditative and disquieting, the title, Passage, references a process of transition from one state of consciousness, or one way of being in the world, to another. Living in a time of rapid transformation, this work serves as a type of meditation on the present, on processes of change on a personal as well as cultural level, and on one’s roll in relation to change.

Suggested volume for viewing.