Sean Schumacher
Having grown up in Las Vegas, I have never had the privilege of being able to view history as a constant. Mine is a city without a long history, and what little there is of it is lost, forgotten, or razed as part of the perpetual rush for the future for which it has come to be known.
My work retells stories through breadcrumbs, trailing hints about an ignored or forgotten past, the whispered half-truths of secrets and rumors, or fleeting narratives told through equally temporary means. Through copious research, unusual applications of everyday technologies, and added humor, I provide viewers a sense of the moments that have been lost, or are simply going unnoticed around them; for one of my most significant projects, I collaborated to reenact the consecration ceremony for UNLV’s dilapidated art building fifty years to the hour after it first occurred, with the very script used to perform it originally.
It is my belief that history is an ever-evolving story and can be made new and relevant to an audience through the processes of contemporary art, whether in a place with endless disdain for its past, or one more forgiving to the people, places, and events that gave shape to its present state.