Bleed

Jenna deBoisblanc
June 2019
Custom software (openFrameworks),
computer, XBox Kinect, projector
Dimensions variable


Over the history of the Mississippi, a white ruling class desiccated the region’s lifeblood, from the nutrient-rich sediment coursing through the river’s arteries, to the oil beneath its alluvial plains, to the black bodies tilling its soil.

Bleed examines the a legacy of environmental and social bloodshed along the Mississippi, both past and present. Sensors detect as the audience approaches the installation, causing the tributaries to bleed across the canvas. Similarly, the pigment evaporates as the participant departs. Through the implication of the body, Bleed forces the viewer to consider his or her relationship to the Mississippi and its people.



bleed