[ Description | Statement | Video | Collage ]
A Body in an Unusual Place
01-02.2007
Live Action, Video and 1-channel Installation
The Inmate started as a series of photographs of a 3 hour performance-based intervention that took place in San Francisco. My idea was to expose and liberate my body from its natural state of delinquency – a state that has been haunting me since my brother was incarcerated in 1995. I created a video version of the project and it was presented to the women exhibition Il Gardino Secreto / The Secret Garden at Primo Piano Living Gallery, Lecce – Italy, 2007.
From this initial idea, my group Plain Human and I created a day to wear orange to bring awareness of the broad scope of incarceration in the United States. The Wear Orange for a Day project took place in San Francisco and in various cities on March 11, 2008. At this day event, I did a second version of The Inmate. I wore the orange jump suit to the classroom where I was teaching that day.
Since, I have also finished two collages entitled Chronicle of The Inmate, containing selected images from my first performance and intervened with ink drawings. On October 11, 2008, one version was auctioned at Galeria de la Raza and the other was donated to the STOP MAX campaign.
[ Related to U’IM: Project Series: Appearing Natural ]