The Alamo

This project seeks to explore the significance of a place as a reliquary for an epic of courage. The Alamo has been largely reconstructed from the ruins of a historic Spanish mission to become a park-like tourist attraction. The meticulously manicured landscape which now surrounds the infamous site of death and defeat for such historical figures as Davey Crocket and James Bowie is accented with an artificial stream stocked with colorful koi and innumerable pennies. The stream, with its clear water and brilliant orange fish, provides an accessible distraction and an anticlimax to the stern and silent chapel, with its roped-off displays memorializing the fallen heroes of Texas. The disneyfication of historical sites commodifies and reduces significant historical sites to places of entertainment and activity. The piece is to be projected at a large scale, as if to endow the graceful movements of the fish with deep meaning. 2003 Video projection loop.