CAREGIVER

2017

"Caregiver" addressed the realities of the caregiver/patient relationship and the dualities present in living while dying at the same time.  In the process of this research, I began to connect the relationship between caregiving, medical science, and life and survival; the humanistic labor involved in each.  This installation included sound mechanisms to create a sense of urgency and uncomfortableness; a hand-embroidered, text-based sculpture that addressed the unending mundane tasks and its accompanying exhaustion; a work consisting of thousands of tiny handmade ceramic pills that debated who medicine is really for and who has control over our bodies; and a time-based work using water and raw clay that delved into the physical and emotional erosion that occurs over the course of an illness.

Throughout the run of the installation, I continually had to “care” for a few pieces within it for it to exist as intended.  Clocks needed rewinding, the IV needed water and adjustments, and paper needed to be placed below the IV to collect and absorb overflow, to keep floors from becoming slippery and to protect walls and objects from damage.  To this extent, the installation not only examined the fragility of sustaining life, it explored the humanistic relationship between caregiving, science, and art and the unceasing labor involved in each. 

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