I am Before presents an abstract, primordial, bubbling swamp with a breathing tree which rises from the water. A placenta-like object floats and breathes on the water’s surface. In the first paragraph of Agua Viva, Lispector writes, “I studied mathematics, which is the madness of reason – but now I want the plasma –I want to eat straight from the placenta.”

This work is part of “the quivering and lively nerve of the now”, an experimental, immersive video story in three acts, in posthumous conversation with and homage to Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector’s, Agua Viva. This three-part artwork presents an argument for body fluidity and abjection in the face of oppression. A celebration of selfhood, desire, and lust, the work reveals a visceral reflection of living/creating the way Clarice Lispector writes. The artworks revel in abstract carnality to counter this moment of contemporary witch-hunting and politically-sanctioned misogyny. In aggregate, the stories form a poetic love letter to lusty living and an embrace of the digital to tell this story.

Nancy Baker Cahill is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist whose hybrid practice focuses on systemic power, consciousness, and the human body. She creates research-based immersive experiences, video installations, and conceptual blockchain projects rooted in the history of drawing. Her monumental augmented reality (AR) artworks extend and subvert the lineage of land art, often highlighting the climate crisis, civics, and a desire for more equitable futures. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of 4th Wall, a free, AR public art platform exploring site interventions, resistance, and inclusive creative expression.

Her geolocated AR installations have been exhibited globally and have earned her profiles in the New York Times, Frieze Magazine, and The Art Newspaper, among other publications, and she was included in ARTnews’ list of 2021 'Deciders'. Her work has been exhibited internationally at museums and galleries, including Francisco Carolinum Linz, The Hermitage, The Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA), Kunsthalle Zürich, Honor Fraser Gallery, and Vellum LA. In 2022, she was one of two featured artists in the Luma Foundation's Elevation 1049 Biennial in Switzerland. Her work was featured in the Immersive Main Competition at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and was exhibited on 90 screens in Times Square for the entire month of July 2022 as part of the Midnight Moments program.

Baker Cahill is an artist scholar alumnus of the Berggruen Institute, a 2021 resident at Oxy Arts’ Encoding Futures focused on AR monuments, and a TEDx speaker. In 2021, she was awarded the Williams College Bicentennial Medal of Honor and received the C.O.L.A. Master Artist Fellowship. She is a 2022 LACMA Art and Tech Grant recipient and will be the January 2023 GAZELL.iO Resident Artist at Gazelli Art House in London.