The return to where I shattered, 2026
Paint, mosaic, ceramics, found plyboard, metal eyelets and caribiners.
Presented at (s)hiver arts festival in Dawson City Yukon.
Coming from a background of narrative sequential art, and inspired by the stations of the cross, this multimedia installation featured 9 pieces telling a story about sexual assault, dissociation, and grief. Installed in a historic blacksmithing building in Dawson City, the only light to see the pieces by were electric candles, to give an atmosphere of having entered some kind of shrine. Visitors entered the installation and walked in a clockwise manner, reading the story sequentially by candlelight.
Each piece is a painting accompanied by a piece of writing, burnt into wood hanging below the painting. The writing is included via text below each photo for better legibility, as the photos don’t always provide the best lighting to see the letters.
“When it happens you shatter into a thousand tiny fragments.
You freeze.
You play dead.
You leave your body.”
“What is left of you is pushed into a void, your body no longer yours.”
“The hole in the ground swallows you as you fall to your grave. You are barely aware as you enter the gates of death.”
“Underground you build a cocoon for yourself with whatever is left. Years pass, you lose your fight, your spirit, your self.”
“One day, years later, life sparks. You’ve outgrown the cocoon. Your options are to stay here and suffocate, or to break your way out. You don’t want to leave your protective shell, but you have to go back.”
“With every ounce of energy you have, you pip the egg. Breaking through the shell that nurtured and trapped you.”
“Clawing your way up, you surface, raging and ready. You don’t know what you are looking for, only that you want to rewrite the story. You want to fight back. You want to feel something.”
“It happens again. You don’t fight, you fawn. Sensations conflate against your will. You stay in your body, present for every confusing moment.”
“This time, there is no cocoon. There is only you.”
Install view - Photo by Thierry Guenez
Install view - Photo by Thierry Guenez
Install view from outside - Photo by Thierry Guenez
Install detail - Photo by Thierry Guenez
Install detail - Photo by Thierry Guenez
