The Tourist is a multifaceted art exploration that invites community participation to come alongside the artist in
shaping the work. Comprised of drawings, photographs, video performances, and other “to be determined” manifestations,
the project revolves around an alter ego simply named “The Tourist”. He wears clothes that signify “tacky American
tourist” and clumsily interacts with the world. The Tourist observes and participates in other cultures, but has no home
of his own. Everything about him, his language, his culture, even his physical body, is “other.” The Tourist approximates
and confuses meaning in language, thus he can never 'mean' with real clarity. As a result he carries a bit of anxiety, or
perhaps because of his anxiety he can only make approximations around deep levels of meaning within his psyche, his soul.
This project attempts to explore a state of journey in the immanent world, in which perhaps none of us is truly “home.”
These concepts find articulation in the research of psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva, who writes in Strangers to Ourselves of
the concept of the foreigner, and in the study of poststructural semiotics by theorist and critic Roland Barthes.
Launching the project on Kickstarter offers an exploration into how a community can partner with the artist not just
financially, but also in creating scenarios and ideas for the Tourist, filling the well of meaning around the work. It
allows for people to directly participate in the project as it develops, hopefully instilling a sense of community
ownership and collaboration around the art.