Until the Ground Breaks

Author

• Annie HuFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Digital Media

First Advisor

Adela Goldbard

Second Advisor

Shawn Greenlee

Third Advisor

Stephen Cooke

Abstract

Until the Ground Breaks explores the complex relationship between personal memory, embodied experience, and internalized "archival logic." By examining long-term cross-cultural diasporic experiences and the shifting dynamics of family narratives—including the sensory experiences and fading memory of a grandmother, a father's correspondence that acts as a textual record of emotional logic, and the continuous revision of family history—this thesis dissects the psychological tremors that occur when the illusion of a singular, stable memory archive collapses. This research rejects the view of memory as a static container of truth, revealing it instead as a dynamic, unstable, and constantly rewritten living system.

In its artistic practice, this thesis proposes "Rewriting as Method," translating the fault lines and fluidity of memory into concrete digital and physical spaces. The research unfolds through a series of cross-media experiments, including generative text systems, fluid spatial reconstructions utilizing 3D Gaussian Splatting and Perlin Noise, and multi-channel video installations. Together, these works visually and spatially manifest the mechanisms of memory's fragmentation and recombination.

Ultimately, the thesis culminates in the construction of a physical lumber structure—comprising a first floor representing parallel memory archives, a basement holding fragments abandoned by narrative, and the space beneath the basement harboring raw sensory materials never captured by language. This spatial metaphor for the psychological architecture of memory is inherently fragile, destined to warp and loosen in the physical world. Rather than seeking a recoverable, singular truth, Until the Ground Breaks embraces chaos, contradiction, and inconsistency, attempting to find a way to inhabit the ruins of history as its very foundations shift and fracture.

Recommended Citation

Hu, Annie, "Until the Ground Breaks" (2026). Masters Theses. 1555.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1555

Creative Commons License

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