Hooks

Hooks, 2015, steel, Dragonskin, pigment, fishing line

This project originated from a frustration with my own body, and became largely a rumination on the limitations of the physical body, and its opposition or tension to the mind or will. While experiencing prolonged intestinal discomfort and distress, I recall myself feeling so frustrated with the pain that I imagined taking my intestines out of my body altogether. This gruesome image is what led me to the aesthetic of this piece.

To create it, I cut, sharpened and bent metal rod to shape the hooks that skewered forms made from dragon skin, a kind of mold-able plastic. I created these plastic forms by pouring the dragon skin into clay molds that I shaped into intestine-like forms. I struggled with attaining the realistic intestine form that I sought, but the pigment I added to the plastic did, I feel, convey a bodily sense or image about the forms.

The hooks and body parts were hung from the ceiling by fishing line, about seven feet off the ground.