cheashit / to groan is a sculptural installation work of textiles, printed matter, and found objects, that culminate into lyrical assemblage that draws on ideas related to hearing, isolation, and mating. Central to the work is large textile photographic print that is laid on a plinth which depicts the artists ear, on top of which a small antler has been placed. Pulling from scientific understandings that moose biologically evolved to grow shed antlers to increase hearing sensitivity during mating season, which both enable them to help find mates, as well as to alert of potential predators, MacDonald invites viewers to think about cues we as people miss.

The installation incorporates specific signifiers that prompt us to contemplate the non-auditory ways we communicate and understand social contracts, such as sex. This work responds to MacDonald’s recent research that focuses on non-human animals and plant life hearing capabilities or responses to vibrations, which are either significant or seemingly insignificant, as a way to make linkages and compare as metaphors to the human experience.

This installation work is featured inside a padded recording booth, which is intended to augment viewers experiencing the work in non-auditory quiet contemplation. This installation includes a collection of printed gay male pornography images, incorporated as a tongue in cheek ploy at creating a visual (non-audio) narrative of potential mates / predators. Importantly, these images are the full archive of MacDonald early internet (late 90s) inkjet print outs, which were amassed into a glimpse into overactive horny youth - before MacDonald started to notice the effects of his degenerative hearing loss, and before he came out of the closet as gay.