Spectrum of Shit
June 28, 2018, my dad went to work at his newspaper office. As the other employees filtered in, he instructed a young reporter he mentored to do something related to the “spectrum of shit” known as the news cycle that day. Around lunch, she wrote on a chartreuse post-it “spectrum of shit” in red pen, and gave it to him, as they often did to exchange jokes. They laughed and carried on with their day.
About an hour later, an active shooter entered the office and open-fired. Five people died, including my dad.
From 2020-22, I prepared, attended, and recovered from my dad’s murder trial from the Annapolis Capital Gazette newspaper mass shooting. Spectrum of shit is the most acute way of describing the many complicated layers of this experience.
This is the Spectrum of Shit in griefings, restings, reportings, notings,
lookings, longings, reachings
and deep breaths.
Photography by Daniel Diasgranados
Cubicle panels carrying a quilt of piece-worked office supplies, cotton envelopes, silk post-its, a keyboard, a filing cabinet, reporter notebooks, newspaper, recycle bin, snowglobe, sudoku puzzles, binder, binder clips, paper clips, flossers, pocket tissues, sunglasses, button-up, legal paper, notes from Capital Gazette murder trial, hand-made fabric manilla envelopes, microfiber towels, Capital Gazette mug, hand-dyed, digitally printed notes from Rob Hiaasen on cotton shirting sheeting, and linen.
Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA
15 x 6 x 2 ft.
May 2022
Exhibition Seating:
Top to bottom:
The Assistant Editor: Rob Hiaasen
The Executive Assistant: Rebecca Smith
The Sport’s Editor: John McNamara
Ceiling Work:
Complete the Day for Rob Hiaasen
A hypothetical choreography completing my dad’s day if he hadn’t been killed in a mass shooting at his work.
Hand-dyed silk
2020-22