Grounded Dreaming

Grounded Dreaming
by Allison Maria Rodriguez
video still from multi-channel, multimedia video installation project, 2025

Project Description & Artist Statement

Grounded Dreaming is a multimedia video installation project exploring the power of landscapes (real and imagined) in sustaining a stable and balanced sense of self when confronted with the weight of intense ongoing emotional labor. The project is built from a series of interviews conducted by the artist with scientific researchers studying the biology of trauma about places they personally envision as sites of comfort, connection or safety. The work explores these locations through a blending of artistic mediums (video, animation, photography, drawing, sound, etc) to create an immersive, restorative experience for the viewer. Through the healing power of the earth’s landscape and kinship with the natural world evoked by the researchers, alongside the specific demands of their vocation, Grounded Dreaming operates at the intersection of social and environmental justice. The project also works to negate the mythological figure of the removed and objective scientist by highlighting the inner emotional life of researchers who care very deeply about the work they do; it pays direct homage to the necessary but often unrecognized emotional labor inherent in a profession that engages with trauma on a daily basis.

All interviews utilized in Grounded Dreaming were conducted during an artist residency with the Broad Trauma Initiative (BTI) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. BTI is a pilot project that brings together an international collection of researchers working on the science of trauma, coming together to create cross dialogue, collaboration and positive change in the field; BTI works to increase understanding of the biological impact of trauma, with the ultimate goal of improving the health and well-being of trauma survivors.

“Grounded Dreaming” was made possible by an artist residency and a grant from the Broad Trauma Initiative at the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Grounded Dreaming
by Allison Maria Rodriguez
video still from multi-channel, multimedia video installation project, 2025

* Grounded Dreaming is a multi-channel, multimedia immersive video installation with a soundscape. It was exhibited as a solo exhibition in late 2025 at the Broad Trauma Initiative & the Biology of Adversity Project’s 2025 International Symposium at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University in Cambridge MA. Please visit this page or the news section in the future for opportunities for the general public to see the work in person and for installation documentation.