Body Element 2

Body Element 2 is part of the Between Rites and Punishments series. It explores the materiality of the body through ritual and punishment, sustained physical acts on the body and time. Using medical and religious elements that are concurrent in her work, this piece uses ritual and punishment to comment on the symbolic meanings that we impose on our bodies. It is with ritual and punishment that the body sustains symbolic meaning in the individual and in society. Currently the mobility of the human body is in doubt, the corporal and symbolic meanings are losing social and institutional value. The production of this is based on melting candles, drop by drop, on medical bandages to later be joined with nylon thread and includes stitches. This repetitive act produced physical discomfort in the artist to the degree that it became a ritualistic physical self-punishment, one to which she herself submits. There is no institutional or social rule that dictates him to do this act more than the role of artist that requires him to produce art so that the title holds meaning.

This work is part of a pair which begins to play with synthetic color, lights, and space. While the frontal material references the body, the viewer can see glimpses of the synthetic fluorescent yellow beneath which plays between the organic and inorganic elements.