Transaction Denied
A large scale interactive installation co-created with Mollie Ruskin that tells the story of thousands of people seeking help paying for food in Washington, DC.
Reflecting on a troubled $50 million computer upgrade to DC’s food assistance program (also known as SNAP) that left thousands without access to their benefits, Transaction Denied invites us to ask our government to do better.
The piece pairs cascades of familiar objects, like receipts and manila folders, with audio of human stories lost amidst systemic failures. The result is an immersive experience that calls into question how much we scrutinize people struggling to put food on their tables, and how little we understand about how our government is failing them.
Photo credits: Mollie Ruskin, Eric Chiu, Amy Wang, and Fati Syed.
Umbrella 2019
The 2019 debut at Umbrella was made possible with curatorial support from Amy Morse and installation support from No Kings Collective, source text from the class action lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society of DC and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, and interviews with SNAP recipients collected by Code for America.
Bread for the City
The 2019 site-specific installation at Bread for the City, which houses social services programs, a legal aid clinic, and a food pantry, was supported with a grant from Decapital.
