Kelley O’Brien

The Tyrant of Pontiac
wheat paste, bond paper, benches, Rick Snyder – 20 mi

Architecture, individual experience, and community are the central themes of my work; more specifically, I look for the ways in which they define and influence each other. My research-based practice takes the material forms of aesthetic interventions such as: radio broadcasts, historical landmarks, personal interviews, and literal maps, which offer a glimpse into the fluid nature of personal and collective experiences.

Previous pieces have examined the effects of historical and political actions on contemporary cultural identity, while recent works are a study of the kinetic nature of architecture as a response to growing and shifting social identities. My practice is concept-driven and takes reference from documentary, performative, and installation-based art forms. The goal of my practice is to explore how cultural identity is strongly linked to and influenced by architecture and modes of place-making.