Flipping cinematic tropes of the American road film, history as hypnosis surfaces themes of alienation, assimilation, and refusal centering on characters and narratives often omitted from history and with that, the screen. The speculative fiction follows three women who are programmed by Artificial Intelligence and whose memories from their previous existence have been erased. Directed to search for a man named “X,” the three venture from the desert to gas stations, gritty strip malls, starchitect-designed buildings, and underground enclaves.

With humor and melancholy, the work explores the women's attempted reintegration into human society as they struggle to piece together their own memories.

Interweaving subtle references to past violence associated with America’s war in Vietnam, the work offers a complex take on how memory, consciousness, and historical narratives merge into a shared cultural imaginary that is produced through cinematic images.

Produced with generous support from New York Foundation for the Arts’ 2021 Artist Fellowship in Film/Video, NYSCA’s Wave Farm MAAF Grant, and MIT List Visual Arts Center.

history as hypnosis, 2023, three-channel video, color, stereo sound, 7’ x 4’x 1/8” aluminum panels, metal seating, colored light, 25 minute loop.