skin hides
To photograph myself naked is to reveal and to hide, to assert myself and be vulnerable. It sets pride against modesty. I inhabit polarized roles, exploring empathy and complicity. For the images in skin hides I appropriated poses from recent Occupy demonstrations – pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed, or arrested protesters, and squads of police.
My recent naturalization as a citizen of the United States has sharpened my attention to the freedoms and duties strained by the assertion of First Amendment rights. Video and audio of my swearing-in ceremony form parts of the installation. The red flash cards are adapted from question-and-answer study cards for the naturalization civics test.
I make the photographs in the domestic but hidden context of my basement. To bring that home setting into the gallery the photographs are installed in, and disrupt, a house-shaped volume outlined with pink yarn. I gathered rocks in the back yard of my home. Much of the lumber is from dismantled dwellings. The mirrors, however, were made in China.
The “police” images are archival inkjet prints. The “demonstrator” images are mostly hand-printed on heavy paper with precious Palladium and Platinum metals. Each print is unique and often “imperfect”.
Visitors were invited to contribute to the installation by marking the “demonstrator” images with thumb- or finger-prints, using one of the stamp-pads provided.
2012