The ideas that have surrounded my interest with tents and forts come from my childhood and playing with my brothers in these tents we made. We would always try to be as creative as possible, making them out of fans, many layers of sheets, and supportive objects. We would spend hours upon hours inside these tents. Reproduced, these tents have reminded me of this other world that was my security, my shelter from whatever was outside of me. This protection wore off for my brothers and me, keeping us wary of many events in life, stunting us from some life experiences, and creating challenges that put us in a state of dependency for most of our lives. These tents symbolize myself, but also my brothers, our bond, our fears, and our intimacy with each other.

The combination of the beard rubbing videos and the air tents brought together the ideas of homoeroticism and my childhood. These two ideas existed together as a child, but were never articulated. The air tents were a place where my brothers and I would hide in the dark for hours, listening to music, telling stories, and also sleeping in for hours while our mom worked three jobs. Our friends would come over and join us in these spaces, and whatever happened within the air tents never left them, and nothing that ever happened in them ever happened outside of them.

The bed tent I created was initially to shield myself from the harsh cold in my house during winter. I created it with intentions to help my breathing and to trap the warmth of my body heat. But it immediately reminded me of the tent my younger brother had over his bed as a child. He was scared to sleep in the wide open and we bought him the tent to ease his anxiety. Like him, I wanted to feel shielded by what was around me. I kept the tent up for the duration of the winter, and took it down after 3 months.

This tent, and the security it provided, allowed some of the feelings, emotions, and actions that comprised my childhood to resurface. I invited different people to come sit with me in my tent while a eucalyptus scent filled the air as a calming tool. In this way, people could rest and experience this moment of my childhood in metaphor.