Camoufleur explores technologies of invisibility and mapping, drawing inspiration from WWII camouflage net making techniques, to reveal under represented histories in contemporary militarized, industrialized, or corporatized landscapes.  Plants foraged from these landscapes are used  to dye the material for this camouflage.

 

Camoufleur: Manzanar, 2014

Plants were collected near the site of the Manzanar Japanese concentration camp camouflage net making factory to make camouflage, which has been situated in various militarized locations throughout Eastern California.

 

Camoufleur/ Dye Pharm: The Duwamish Bend Housing Project, 2015-2023

Camouflage has a significant and meaningful history in the Duwamish Valley where I live. The contemporary form of this part of Seattle was shaped by WWII when Boeing production was ramped up to produce bombers at Boeing Plant 2 next to the South Park Bridge. After removing Japanese farmers from the South Park side of the river to force them into internment camps, the government built camouflage over the plant to hide it from potential air raids. Small homes and trees were constructed on this camouflage, and actors were hired to walk on it so that it looked like an inhabited neighborhood.  Nearby, the Duwamish Bend Housing was constructed to house workers and was later home to returning veterans and low-income people.  This community was torn down and after years of being parking lots, small warehouses, and a interior design center for Seattle’s wealthy, ProLogis built a two-story warehouse on a portion of the site for Amazon trucks.