The missiles come from the idea of how we celebrate freedom as communities in the U.S. Fireworks in particular. We launch literal explosives in the air for light shows. I kept coming back to how we celebrate our victories with these explosives for entertainment and how we simultaneously destroy other communities with explosive missiles of bombardment. How similar they look and how fireworks are often used to celebrate our violent victories. These forms came about due to the ideas surrounding how our celebrations are connected to the destruction of others, and the destruction of pieces of ourselves.

Part of the construction of these vessels meant that I wanted each shot inside to represent an actual part of the missile: the booster rocket, the fuel reserves, the guidance system, and the payload. In fact, the only part that makes this a missile rather than a rocket is the payload - the explosive ordinance.

Drinking is one of the ways I celebrate and I often feel it’s both celebratory and destructive. While it can be fun and bring us closer together as a group, it often results in some kind of destruction of our own health. In a strange way, these forms of celebration come from and encourage destruction. I wanted to recognize that specifically with shots since we rarely take shots alone - we do them as a group - the more the merrier!