Untitled: Rubbing 2009

Performed at 'Open West 2009' Summerfield Gallery, University of Gloucester, Cheltenham. 20th February 2009.

Paper, charcoal, lamps.

Live performance: 2 hours.

Photography: Aileen Harvey.

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.