The Body Resides in Brittany
Stones, Wax, Pigment, Bricks, Acrylic Glass, Butcher’s Scale, Chalkboard, Chalk
Dimensions variable
Sculptural installation and durational performance piece exhibited at Alte Handelsschule in Leipzig, DE in 2022.
Stone. In Folklore, some ancient stone circles are transmogrified bodies.
Wax. Fingerprints collect on its surface. Rough handling leads to damage.
Weight. Chronic illness is often invisible, yet requires monitoring. Symptoms shift, appear, worsen, lessen. The fog that slows the mind becomes heavy to carry.
Repeat.
The Body Resides in Brittany is an installation piece and durational performance about the experience of chronic illness and the self-monitoring involved in symptom tracking. The installation includes a chalkboard with the handwritten text “the words I cannot find~4.8kg” on an acrylic glass pedestal filled with chipped bricks. A single stone, wrapped in canvas and pigmented wax hangs from a butcher’s scale. Surrounding the pedestal are 26 wrapped stones in various sizes, reminiscent of an ancient stone circle.
In the accompanying durational performance, I use the chalkboard to write out symptoms represented in stone with their respective weights. The text is erased before each new weighing, and the chalk is wiped on my clothes. Once all the stones have been weighed, the process begins again.
The performance lasts approximately 2 hours or however many rounds I can complete before becoming ill.
