Appalachian alumnus Daniel Keeler Kaple’s exhibit 34 Years and a Wake Up, focuses on landmark moments, people and events from the history of his lifetime as a means of examining how he related to and was directly affected by them. He references history through the personalized lenses of youth, adolescence and early adulthood as a means of exploring the ways in which significant aspects of the past 34 years are connected through media, personal experience and everyday life.
His works mirror the process of association that went into their making. They aren’t fluid – they are composites of many ideas collecting around a given historical generality. Recognizable images blend with personal references to suggest that history isn’t something separate from our personal identity – we are shaped by history while at the same time we shape it to fit our beliefs and our biases. Further, the pieces are intended to express how our individual lives and personal dramas continue to unfold regardless of, and sometimes oblivious to, major movements in the greater world around us.
