The real story behind Andrea Davide’s Timeline of Destiny would make a blockbuster Tom Hanks movie. A U.S. fighter pilot becomes a battle hero whose story takes a tragic turn and quickly evolves into an enigma, a forsaken legend, until his truth is discovered by group of diligent seekers. An unlikely Samaritan restores the pilot’s honor and he is now free to join his fellow warriors in the American Valhalla.

The history behind Davide’s work is real. The art is the result from a painstaking undertaking by the artist and a committee of experts to uncover the story mystery of the downing of the aircraft of Major Thomas McGuire, a renowned American World War II fighter pilot, and his adversary, Japanese pilot Akira Sugimoto in Negros in the Philippine Islands. McGuire, one of the most successful fighter pilots in American history, was shot down by Sugimoto (who was also killed soon after.) For perhaps morale reasons, American military brass decided to let McGuire’s story be swallowed up, along with the flotsam of his aircraft, by the ever-consuming jungle of the island. An analysis of the evidence from the crash site revealed that McGuire’s end was an honorable one – an all-out effort to save the life of a fellow pilot.

While a Hollywood production would be sure to use easy emotional hooks to pull at the heartstrings of its eager audience, Davide chose to create a work that not only gives the actual event its due respect, but goes outside the constraints of the specific time to reach a more complex destination. Davide salvaged the materials for Timeline of Destiny from the actual crash site. The work is a culmination of the process of editing and culling the materials from the excavation, but rather than displaying her finds with a direct museum-like approach, Davide joins and juxtaposes her chosen pieces into her art.