The inspiration for this work comes from a very specific moment. A soul piercing second of revelation. The moment where an imagined existence became a physical reality. 

As an adoptee, my youth was spent absorbing every second, feeling so deeply engulfed in my own reality that I couldn’t yet conceptualize a universe beyond it. I had always felt gratitude for my story, my parents and my birth parents. I loved my family and my community, but somewhere deeply understood the intensity of the decisions that were made when I was born. However, never unpacked the emotional ties until I started to think about starting a family of my own. 

Making the decision to reach out to my birth mother felt like a monumental transition - a leap into an unknown history where anything and everything was possible. I am so proud of everyone involved in the story and the decision to connect, as it’s not an easy or solitary journey.

Chameleon is based off of a moment after meeting my birth mother and extended family. A moment when I realized a lot of people had met me once - as an infant, a tiny, needy existence - and for the past 33 years, all of those individuals had formed a very real image of who I had or who I would become. I realized the ripples I had unknowingly left cannot be counted. No matter the decisions I made on a daily basis, an imagined existence lived on. 

We all leave a ripple, a skin, an energy at each encounter, and we can only manage that ripple for a split second. Sometimes we shift our personas in various environments as we leave a ripple. Sometimes we don’t even notice that a ripple is being made. But, once that moment has passed, the growth of that memory, that feeling, or that existence is no longer in our control, but in the control of the person we have encountered

Creating this work has encouraged me to think more deeply about the ways that I move in various communities and circles, and of the impact we make both intentionally and without knowing. 

Each step in the process of creating this experience, from working with The South Florida Center for Percussive Arts leadership and students to building with my colleagues at MAD Arts and MF Dynamics, has unpacked a new lens on this narrative. There is a universal connection and understanding that no matter your story, your past, or your ambitions, we are all trying to express our deepest selves, no matter when or how we each “Chameleon.” 

for flexible percussion ensemble, back track, and fixed media

• Music by Maria Finkelmeier

• Video by MAD Arts and Maria Finkelmeier 

• Performed by Students from the South Florida Center for Percussive Arts 

We are layered, flawed, and uniquely individual. The collective experience of Chameleon: Resemblance‍ ‍is inspired by the many skins that we put on as we move through different communities and environments. When workshopping with the students at the South Florida Center for Percussive Arts, one student shared “is this like when I’m one way with my family, and a different way at school?” The answer was, a resounding yes. That no matter what time of life we are in, there is a sense that we have many identities in different spaces. Chameleon: Resemblance offers a celebration of what happens when we break through the skins and look at the joy and rawness of what is within us. 

for marimba duo with visualized brainwave data 

• Music by Maria Finkelmeier 

• Visuals by Supreetha Krishnan 

• Performed by Maria Finkelmeier and Greg Jukes 

There are systems within us that we don’t feel, see, touch, or recognize moment to moment, but they are the systems that define so much in our lives – how we think, analyze, move, and remember. Chameleon I: Undulation is inspired by these invisible frequencies within us, the repetitive and reliable currents that move us through the world.

for percussion trio and electronics, with sonified and visualized pulse data 

• Music by Maria Finkelmeier 

• Visuals by Supreetha Krishnan 

• Hardware by Andrew Ringler and Fernando Rodriguez 

• Performed by Maria Finkeleier, Greg Jukes, and a member of the South Florida Center for Percussive Arts community 

Our pulse; a felt, heard, and seen reminder of existence. We track it through apps, where it can signal good health or need for help. It is everlasting and essential. Chameleon II: Perpetual uses the pulses of the performers to create a vast and deep sonic landscape, bringing us into a communal environment using the most human function; the beat of our hearts. The work is generated in real time by the performers, using the pulse to control sounds and animation, featuring the sonograms of Finkelmeier’s two daughters, Lillian and Azalea. 

for percussion duo and electronics, with visualized motion data 

• Music by Maria Finkelmeier 

• Visuals by Fernando Rodriguez 

• Performed by Maria Finkelmeier and Greg Jukes

We make daily choices on how we move through the world. That’s when we leave the ripples - when our physical presence is seen, heard, and remembered. Chameleon III: Incalescence is inspired by the fire, the inspiration, and the connection that we hold onto individually to move through our communities and leave our ripples, to build and embrace our webs of connections.