When making Robe of Protection and Bondage, I listened to how my body’s balance and rhythms reacted to the art-object to inform what move to make next. Because this work was created from a space of embodiment and is also about how my own body moves through the world, in many ways the concept isn’t complete until I wear the work. 

I was fortunate to collaborate with photographer Mathis Darriet in a photoshoot exploring the interaction between my body and the work at a ruin site of an old convent in Messejana, Portugal. 

My intention for these images is that they expose the work as both an ineffective armor (it is transparent and has many holes) as well as bondage for the body (it is heavy, difficult to move, and the metal rings pierced my skin). 

Identity and our constructed Self as both protection and prison.

Beyond Repetition is the culminating exhibition of the August 2022 Buinho artist residency. It features work by Gisel Carriconde Azevedo, Gretchen Hasse, Makiko Harris, Mathis Darriet, and Phil Jones. The residency artists all independently gravitated toward the theme of repetition, inspired by the town of Messejana itself, the surrounding landscape, and newly acquired skills on the machines at Buinho.

Photos by Mathis Darriet