“Dust to Dust” begun before the pandemic year of 2020 and was created during it. Inspired by a book I read Autumn 2019 (Darian Leader’s The New Black) this work is about giving space for grief and mourning in contemporary culture when most of our rituals for grief have disappeared.
This occurs by participants writing down their losses on raw clay ex-votos that I pound to dust and add to a communal circle created with the dust in a ritual performance. Participants and viewers are welcome to stay with the circle for as long or as short a time as they are comfortable with.
With this project I offer a ritual and space to place their grief. Transforming the feelings and thoughts of loss via participation with the artwork, those participating are able to add their losses to the work creating a communal mourning monument and space that can visually and transformatively bringing everyone together, something that became needed even more in the time of Covid.
This work is the first installation/performance work I have done but is the third in my transformational artworks where I look at, discuss, and/or transform emotion into objects related to communal spaces.
Images and video here is from the first performance of this work at Holland Tunnel Gallery (Garden Space) Autumn 2020. Sound for this work was created by Scooter McCray and guests. Mixed at Oliver Creek Studios, Texas.
