This piece began out of admiration of the space and the proximity that I have held to it thus far this semester. I do not think many people use this room to shower, It is very old and at first sight a bit creepy. I have grown very fond of it and found myself wanting to become part of the space. I feel an intense sense of loss in the space and was drawn to the holocaust because of the nature of the room and shower set up. As I spent time in the space and listened to what the space needed I felt as if there was a ghost who was searching for her children and who died long ago but could not find peace with out finding her children. It is a piece of struggle and loss. I have experienced loss in a long drawn out manner on multiple occasions and have had to watch intense suffering and struggle occur in others who knew that they were dying or losing something very important to them. During these experiences the body begins to react in an almost ghost like behavior and starts to go into automatic pilot where nothing else matters but "mein kinder" or whatever the loss may be for each person. There is a moment that occurs prior to the loss and this moment is very interesting to me. It has a sense of intense fear and also a beginning of one giving into the loss and allowing acceptance to occur. This moment can be felt over and over again as I experienced in this piece. However I was stuck in this moment for the desire to live and save my children was too strong to allow me to completely die and therefore I became a ghost tortured in her own existence. Unable to give into the realization of the loss and move forward I became stuck in the loss but never fully able to experience the loss therefore I was stuck in the moment before the loss.
Loved this work, Tara, here in the writing you express well the tension and suspension in time, sort of like deathless quality imagined in purgatory. These still images move me deeply - the internality and compulsion is all there; the work live was haunting and disturbing - amplified water. the return to water again and again, as though cleaning, as though source of life. Powerful important work. I see why Darwin asked if it concerned the Holocaust - yes, of course - also any, all loss
ReplyDeletebut the specifics uncanny common date was specific - the iron pipes, brick, light seeping in.. all so evocative. Work that space... The footage you showed me from the garden is also extraordinary.
Your description leads me to suggest you look at Francesca Woodman's photography - there's a marvelous compilation in Special Collections. You may find her to be a kindred spirt though less conscious thatn you are.
Would love to see more video footage you mentioned might follow...
This piece was so moving, it didi not matter what you were saying you delivered the mood. I see a connection with this piece and your dancing piano piece. There is something similar about the characters and story.
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