DeCordova awarded Annee Spileos Scott the Rappaport Prize to recognize her consistency in and dedication to the difficult field of installation art. Installation work is site-specific and therefore cannot be sold at auction; the artists must rely almost completely on commissions for income. Scott's multimedia installations are vibrantly colorful and laden with political and emotional content. Her 1992 work Daze of our Lives resembles an over-decorated living and dining room, a sarcastic exaggeration of coordinated middle-class decor. Objects from everyday suburban life drape the table and chairs like weeds, wresting control of the room from the imagined residents. The installation is a gaudy critique of a consumer culture overly concerned with appearances and material status symbols.

What did the prize mean to you?

The Rappaport Prize allowed Scott to complete several major installations, including Gimme Shelter, and to continue engaging with social issues in her art. "I thank the Rappaport Family," she writes, "for the opportunity to be part of the solution, from 2001 until I retire."

Where is she now?

Scott's installation Gateways, completed in 2002 with the financial aid of the Rappaport Prize, was a significant turning point in her work. An elaborate bedroom festooned with photographs and religious icons traced her mother's life from birth to death. It also metaphorically referenced the journey of immigrants through the gateway of Ellis Island, conflating the individual story of her mother and the general story of American naturalization in a single, poignant installation. Most recently, Scott completed the 2007 installation Max Yasgur's Farm, which channels the spirit of the famous Woodstock concert of 1969 into rows of stylized, brightly-colored plants and psychedelic wall paintings.

www.anneespileoscott.com