Where the Shadow Falls (2020)

Wylie House Museum
Site-specific, stop motion animation installation

The site-specific stop motion-animation, Where the Shadow Falls, focuses on the forgotten creative practice of Maggie Wylie Millette, a historic Indiana woman who dreamed of studying art in New York before the obligations of 19th-century marriage and motherhood diverted her path. 

“[Art] can engage you in a conversation and…ask you to question assumptions, preconceived ideas of what has value, who has value, and your agency in that value-making.”

—quoted from my studio visit with Arts & Humanities Council

Projected on the wall of the Museum, above the archival collection of Wylie family silhouette portraits in the “Women's Workroom,” this installation creates a direct dialogue between moving shadows created today and the recorded shadows of the past. Within the action of the stop motion, there is a rumination upon Maggie’s oil paintings and the IU trident that she painted on the china cup in the “Dining/Family Room.” This is an important narrative to highlight, as today women are still oppressed around the world—their rights, dreams, and futures unacknowledged. 

Built in 1835 by Andrew Wylie, first president of Indiana University, the Wylie House is now a historic house museum administered by the IU Libraries. Collections include family artifacts, photographs, and archival materials.

While Wylie House is closed due to COVID-19, anyone is invited to explore the museum through a virtual tour. 

Process

Ethan Gill, IU Office of the Provost, “Sarah Edmands Martin Studio Visit 1,” Wylie House Exhibits, accessed May 29, 2020, http://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/wyliehouse/items/show/294.