Untitled: Rubbing 2008

Performed at 'Wonder Island' Schwartz Gallery, London, 4th December 2008.

Paper, charcoal, plywood.

Live performance: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Photography: Lydia Hartshorne

A figure lies beneath seven layers of fine paper. It could be dead, but for the gentle movements made by the inhalation and exhalation of breath…

As if rubbing a monumental brass, it starts at the top, over the forehead, nose, cheekbone, lips, jaw… tracing its own image. It works its way down, neck, breastbone, shoulders, breasts, hips, pubis… Once the drawing is completed it is removed from the body, sloughed off, like the shedding of a layer of skin.