BANDAGES

A while ago, my friend Connie told me about a show she put together, where one of the artists submerged herself repeatedly in a bath of ice water, in a way of talking about surviving abuse. This idea has stuck with me, and the notion of turning physical pain into a representation of emotional pain. To me, the shock of the ice and the numbness of the body encapsulates what it means to survive trauma. Horrifically painful, violent, but the frequent dissociation and disconnect with reality, and the way that we involuntarily get back into the ice bath each day through the recovery process.
I'm waiting to get in contact with the artist to ask her more about this performance, and whether she minds me referencing it in my own work, by filming myself getting into an ice bath in a hotel room as I'm wrapped in bandages. As I resonate with the performance so much I really hope she is okay with me doing this, but I have to respect her wishes if she isn't comfortable with it.