Once Again, Twice More, Forever  2024

Medium: Sculpture, Performance, Video

Materials: Tattoo Practice Skin, Fish Wire

 

This is a performance art piece about mental illness—specifically, compulsive repetition. In the performance, I repeatedly attempt to sew a wound on the skin using transparent fishing wire, making it intact. Every time I finish stitching, I tear the wound apart again, and this routine is in an endless loop..

 

Though the skin has the ability to heal itself, the cycle of self-inflicted harm causes the wound to a worse situation, the action meant to "repair" it grows it larger and more ugly.

 

Compulsive repetition refers to the tendency to repeat experiences that once caused harm, in an attempt to relive and re-experience the same emotions. My personal experience with this stems from having been a victim of domestic violence. Particularly after completing my work Wonderland, I believed this was a process of self-healing. However, it deepened my psychological trauma.