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Media: Silicone and Foam Body Casting, Resin, Human Hair, Furs, Soil, Tito's Bottle, Socks, Family Pictures, Pill Bottle, Tank Top, Lantern, Foliage

Location: University of Cincinnati, DAAP, Tabula Rasa Gallery

*Process Images Included at the Bottom of the Page...

 

Grey Escape is an extension of my internal thoughts regarding death wrapped in silicone and carefully mulled over for weeks. Daily, I see the potential scenarios that my body, and bodies I love, could endure, and it causes me to spiral into panic and anxiety. I ponder my future losses and wonder if I will be crushed under the weight of grief. This sick feeling caused me to pour out my thoughts on paper in the form of a typed narrative. The story centers on a girl, whom I named Morgan, who no longer has the will to live after the death of her boyfriend; she feels immense guilt, depression, and uselessness to those around her. Morgan idealizes the idea of re-joining herself with her love through suicide, an idea which she brings to fruition through a violent overdose. For my senior thesis project Grey Escape, I bring my written story of Morgan’s death to life through an uncanny silicone and foam body installation that melds fine art sculpture and cinematic set design. The three-dimensional death scene, which no longer requires scripted word, explores my own desensitization to raw, graphic human death which struggles against my romanticized idea of dying. My feelings of intense fear for those I love, and myself, are ingrained in the scene, along with the realization that I do not have the ability to save myself or those I care for from an inevitable end.