While in-residence at Monson Arts in Monson, ME, I took regular walks at the edges of woods surrounding town. Coming from a much different midwestern environment, I was surprised by the frequency of private property signs I encountered in the heavily-wooded landscape, and found them interrupting my internal dialogues on my strolls. In response, I created a number of companion signs posting my "private thoughts," including jokes and puns, snippets of text from various essays, song lyrics, and poems I read while in residence. I photographed these signs in-situ for later use in digital textile works.
What started as a playful response to my environment eventually opened space for conversation and stories from local residents about property rights, neighborliness, and the gender dynamics entrenched in notions of nature, ownership, and access--including a harrowing conversation about justice with the family of a local woman killed by a hunter on her own property.