Christmas in the Desert

Christmas in the Desert by Victoria Vallis is a sculpture representing a lonely trailer on a high Nevada desert plateau. Symbolizing what remains after all is taken from a person. Bits and pieces of nothing in perpetual motion flap in the wind reminiscent of torn skin hanging. Picture a lonely trailer at Christmas. The instruments of sound include kitchen items such as a spatula, spoons, graters and gadgets. Other clankers are records, cd's, a dog collar and tags, nuts and bolts, a door knob, and miscellaneous pieces of technology. Hung by twine and clothes pins onto a clothes drying rack, they are allowed to swing freely. Wind is applied in the form of a fan. Electric beaters rotate repeatedly, simulating the cruel knocks life continues to administer. The sounds of clanking become music, which has a soothing effect after it is heard in monotonous perpetuity. An animatronic deer and Christmas doll add movement also, the doll repeatedly clanks a broken record with her lighted candle. For ambiance, more Christmas lights are added as vines of ivy would grow and cover all in time. The overall effect is camping in a back to nowhere Nevada location. In another room multiple dvd's play Christmas themed movies. I exhibited, '"The Simple Life Road Trip", a Christmas present from my son about ten years ago, that I never watched. It also had a pink travel trailer theme. Once at home I missed the sculpture and so it was recreated in the kitchen, see added picture.