Based On A True Story

The Wassaic Project, Wassaic New York 2014

Based on a True Story is a site-specific installation for the 2014 summer exhibition at The Wassaic Project. It’s about storm chasing, tracking weather and chasing clouds. Made in collaboration with Terry O’Neil, the immersive installation looks at the supercell, the severe weather cloud that produces anomalies such as baseball-sized hail, wedge-shaped tornadoes and flash floods. It has the sensibility of a maximalist, combining film, sound, drawing, meteorological equipment and ephemera. There’s even a wind machine and a series of banners that advise viewers to “Know Which Way the Wind Blows” and to “Weather the Storm”. The short film was nominated for Best Emerging Director at the 2014 Golden Sheaf Awards. Special thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for an exhibition assistance grant, the Canada Council for the Arts for a travel grant, and the Lois Claxton Humanities and Social Sciences Award who provided a seed grant for the initial research.