bottle rack (found on the track by the knoll)
2017
two-and-a-half hour action with tree trunk, steel, knife, scissors, nails, human hair, oil paint, record player, digital prints
a section of trunk from a felled tree stood with braces in a room. one wall presented snapshots of some characteristics of my hair. against another wall was a record player. its needle was set to a specific chorus on a single album track. once the lyrics started i began stripping the trunk of its bark, pausing to whisper to approaching visitors: an artist is accountable, will you help me cut this shit? then a story grew out of cutting, felling, stripping, marking, addressing and redressing. the story was cyclically interrupted when i’d have to return to the record player and reset the needle so the chorus persisted in asking a hard question.
made at the ely center for contemporary art on march 5th, 2017.
dedicated to the memory of Berta Cáceres.
