The X is a symbol of barrier. It is a symbol for skin. Skin is a barrier that defines our expierence. Skin contains our pains. It is what separates us from others. It contains our history. It defines our inner experience, our identity, and how we exist in the world. It is how we are labeled and defined.
Recently, I did the Plein Air Show in Sloatsburg. I had proposed creating an installation using string to create walls of color between trees. The three elements of my work would be addressed in a different way than I the work I do in the studio. Each wall was a color, the walls would create a surface, and allow for the soul to exist and be present.
Colored walls of string parallel between trees. Each wall a different color. I wanted to see how the walls would interact. I wanted to see what happened when I got rid of the X. Here are some photos of what was made:
Spider webs are barriers. We are lucky enough to walk through them, but other beings are trapped. Precious, fragile as they are, they are barriers. They define space. The viewer is on one side or the other. The body is defined by an element outside of itself.
The walls of color were fragile, and as much as I wanted to make a barrier, a Serra like presence of color, I would need a lot more yarn. Something else happened. The color felt like a spider web. Easily lost.
Our skin feels so permanent. My skin has been my container my whole life. It marks me as white, woman, middle aged, soft. But it leaves us at some point. It will no longer contain me at some point. There is a somewhere inside of me that can’t imagine that, but a deeper knowing that it must happen. It is inevitable. My skin will be consumed. Much like the insect in the web.
In the future, I want to see what happened when I create this piece along a 10 minute walk along a natural barrier - like where water meets land. or along a path that would intersect with the natural flow, forcing viewers to change their path. Will you, will I feel my skin even more?