Deconsecrated Meat
Unholy Bodies
Representing de-spiritualized bodies within a deconsecrated church, the artist creates an accesible diorama installation that allows spectators to be part of the diorama as they enter the space. Uncooked clay acts as the main material to express the physical body, like Abrahamic religions where man is created out of clay or dirt. Clay is a part of an eternal cycle of transitions. Decomposition brings our flesh back to dirt. Meat becomes clay.
The visceral, the guts, and anatomical parts are customarily viewed with disgust, and if brought to the extreme they become the bad, and eventually, the devil. For the artist, it represents our insides and our spirit, and the creation of guts within the artist's work speaks on introspection, self reflection and ultimately the deepest part of our soul. Another element to the project is the microcosmos, cells, neurons, and bacteria that keep us alive without us noticing. This is represented with analog projections of water and oil to create a light show that casts magnified shadows across the altar and the whole installation. And lastly, the olfactory system or the sense of smell: by utilizing frankincense, one of the oldest perfumes used by humanity and relating to modern day religious services, the artist utlilizes the capability of smell to trigger memories and explore a deeper, collective, ancestral memory.
