resting on insomnia
26 March to 11 May, 2018
A forty-seven day durational performance
Thinking about the vigilant state women must assume, I adhered nails to the walls of my studio, facing inward. Normally accustomed to using my studio walls for back support while reading, working, and eating, the restricted movement of the body in the space was an enactment of the voices of rape victims, reminding me not to rest, not to touch, not to be touched, to be vigilant, to protect femininity. The final part of the performance was open to public participation in which I wore a dress stitched with needles instead of thread. Text from the found rape news articles were printed on paper and pierced by the nails. The spectators/participants removed the punched papers as an act toward freeing the victims from harm. The participants then used clay to cover the punched hole or edit the text, establishing the performance as a process of healing. The nails were then plucked off the walls and immersed in the jug of clay slip. Each time a nail was removed, a needle from my dress was removed and stitched with janeu by the participants. The participants wiped their clayed fingers on white handkerchieves which were later sewn to the dress as a signifier of the healing. The performance lasted until all the nails from the wall and the needles from my dress were removed.
I appreciate and thank my teachers, friends, and family who collaboratively healed with me—Robert Dansby, Anupam Singh, Carolina Hicks, Hanieh Khatibi, Justin Serulneck, Bethany Elmer, Max Syron, John Wu, Hannah Naomi Varamini, Beth Fiedorek, Scott Lee.
Photo and video credit: Justin Serulneck