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Picking, bleeding2016
site specific installation, walls and floors removed through placing dots of hot glue on a wall and then prying them off with a metal spatula, over and over This piece is a site-specific intervention to a room. On first entering the room, it appears speckled, and, upon further inspection, the viewer realizes that the entire surface of the room has been picked at fingertip-sized intervals (every wall and floor of the room). To pick uniformly, I first place dots of hot glue on the surface. Then, I pick the hot glue blisters off with a metal spatula. The removal process revealed the history of the room hidden within the walls, including: a phrase written with pencil by one of the windows: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change”, a drawing of dandelions, brown drywall tape, a reflection of myself. Someone had put aluminum foil into the wall— creating a reflective surface. Imagining the wall as a skin and the body as room, each removal formed part of a swarm and an exposed wound. The experience was meant to sublimate against the walls, but, through the rigor of the process, my hands blistered and, sometimes, bled. The wall became a mirror not only imagination, but in actuality. |
Afterwards, I peeled all the paint from the walls in skins and also cut drywall out from the wall.
photograph of peeled away skins from original room installed at Washington College (photographs from Washington College taken by Julie Wills)
removed dots from room
removed drywall fragments installed in gallery
