Held, Carcass

‘Carcass’ and ‘Held’ are part of my second project within the Graduate Diploma at the RCA. Still informed by my research on Sargassum Seaweed as an example of the circularity of life in the natural world, the two-part piece investigates the relationship with self around shame and the body. This includes the developmental process, acceptance of the whole self, the healing of trauma, and the formation of a new and more total identity. In both cases, the aluminium wire is a symbolic representation of seaweed, an entity that I explore bodily autonomy and identity through. I am interested in the dichotomy that seaweed as form and material represents and the tension in between; both freedom and fluidity when in water, but also organic binds and barriers. 

Carcass is an aluminium sculpture made with wire and mesh, formed with my whole body’s embrace. In multiple sittings, I held the wire in different dynamic positions around my body, moving the wire and my body at the same time. Held, is a live performance piece, re-enacting the making of Carcass in a more theatrical environment 

For Held, I transformed a room into an ocean-like scene using draped tarpaulin, video projections of water vibrating, lighting, and then my body and metal wire as materials for live performance. Again, the metal material is moulded by my body as I wrestle and hold it; exploring different meanings of being ‘held’. Here, the metal used as symbolic representation of seaweed, is about the struggle with shame, and accepting a new body and identity after such visceral trauma.