FLORAL BOX
FLORAL BOX (BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY) was a time-based work that occurred from January 2020 - July 2022, a period of profound change and transformation from inside a space of suspension and stillness. During this time of isolation, my relationship to my gender and its expression evolved radically.
In the spring of 2024, I unearthed the physical artifacts from this time in order to form a representation of the work for In Still Life, a group exhibition at Bianco Gallery that prompted artists to consider the still life form through a contemporary lens. Objects included jars of sand and water from various bodies and time periods, a floral calendar filing box filled with items such as blush, birth control pills, a square of toilet paper with blotted lipstick, my hair, a vintage floral print dress, and my daily journals from 2020 - 2022.
With the help of curator Dinah Dimalanta, the representation that surfaced was a digital scan of the dress placed alongside a written record of the work’s “performance score.”
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FLORAL BOX (BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY)
0: Exhaustion; 31 years of performance
1: Remove dress; remove external stimuli; move body 2,000 feet higher; bury in snow; sleep the winter
2: Involuntary suspension of time
3: Wear Kevin’s clothes; soften gaze
4: Cover mirrors; note shifting interior; lay body on Earth; spend hundreds of hours with back against dirt, grass, tile, wood, sand, rock while old stories about power seep out spine, soak into ground
5: Submerge in river; bring river home in jars; bring snow & lake
6: Burn a book you wrote, finish another; fill 500 pages with handwriting, 200 pages with history unfolded into the present
7: CUT YOUR HAIR CUT YOUR HAIR
8: Walk trail up hill, dead painted lady intact on path; hold in palm & listen; see future
9: Shave remaining hair onto ground; give yourself a new name
In the spring of 2024, I unearthed the physical artifacts from this time in order to form a representation of the work for In Still Life, a group exhibition at Bianco Gallery that prompted artists to consider the still life form through a contemporary lens. Objects included jars of sand and water from various bodies and time periods, a floral calendar filing box filled with items such as blush, birth control pills, a square of toilet paper with blotted lipstick, my hair, a vintage floral print dress, and my daily journals from 2020 - 2022.
With the help of curator Dinah Dimalanta, the representation that surfaced was a digital scan of the dress placed alongside a written record of the work’s “performance score.”
FLORAL BOX (BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY)
0: Exhaustion; 31 years of performance
1: Remove dress; remove external stimuli; move body 2,000 feet higher; bury in snow; sleep the winter
2: Involuntary suspension of time
3: Wear Kevin’s clothes; soften gaze
4: Cover mirrors; note shifting interior; lay body on Earth; spend hundreds of hours with back against dirt, grass, tile, wood, sand, rock while old stories about power seep out spine, soak into ground
5: Submerge in river; bring river home in jars; bring snow & lake
6: Burn a book you wrote, finish another; fill 500 pages with handwriting, 200 pages with history unfolded into the present
7: CUT YOUR HAIR CUT YOUR HAIR
8: Walk trail up hill, dead painted lady intact on path; hold in palm & listen; see future
9: Shave remaining hair onto ground; give yourself a new name
[STILLNESS PIECE | January 2020 - July 2022]
06 May 2024
When I try to locate my gender now, what I most want is to not “be” anything, & instead to find my way back to the consciousness & expression I had at age 4 or so.
As I’ve been working with Floral Box/BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY/whatever it wants to be called over these past weeks, dancing has felt like an important element of this process/return & I’m beginning to understand more clearly the role seriousness around dance (ballet in particular) played in pushing me towards a rigid gender form.
I don’t think my physical body will be part of the final version of this “project” but moving has provided a new window into it & a nice way to hang out with that 4-year-old.
