Sunsets for Mike and Carmen is a generative radial slit scan comprised of social media sunsets. In August of 2016 my friend Mike took his own life. He had recently moved to Florida with his wife Carmen to start over and live the life they had worked so hard for. Almost every day he posted pictures of the sunset slowly slipping down into the Gulf of Mexico. These sunsets were evidence of his relentless spirit and a welcome respite from the banality of social media. I was desperate to do something for Carmen to help ease her pain so I decided Mike’s sunsets should live on as a small gift to her. This piece uses a set of Mike’s original images and is designed to incorporate new contributed images. As you watch the sun rise and take in the view, you cannot keep the experience. It is never the same twice. Similarly, each individual sunset generated is unique and fleeting. As long as the code runs, new sunsets will be sent into the world.

During exhibition users are invited to take new sunset images and text them to me. Every morning the new images will be added to the queue and incorporated into the freshly generated new sunsets.