Burning Man Project 2007
"Two Years Hair Growth"
:Overview:
This project was a performance piece that
I did in Black Rock City, Nevada.
In this project I had people cut off
numbered lots of my hair in exchange for
one of their memories. Each lot of hair
represented two years hair growth,
though the memories were of the individuals
own choosing (not necessarily from the last
two years). There were 24 braids, twelve
on the right and twelve on the left,
corresponding to the 12 pairs of
cranial nerves.
Originally it was understood that after
the gathering of the memories, I would
assimilate, reinterpret, and recreate them
in a installation showing the map of the
mind created by these memories. But this was
before the memories were gathered. Since
then I have decided that this way of working
does not suit the nature of the project.
:Current Staus:
Since I have been working on this project
I have been finding that I need more time
to digest the experience. So, for now, the
continuation of this project has slowed.
I am pursing other works, allowing the two
years hair experience wash over me so that I
can come to it with a more suitable approach.
And it's not as easy as that. The project has
had an affect on me that I could not have
anticipated and has made me to understand
more how I feel about the scarcity of memory.
In some of my work I explore the non-truth
of memory, the way it changes and distorts to
a degree over time; what we remember what
we forget, and what we recreate from bits to
fill in the gaps. This has been mainly applied
to my own memories, but the nature of hearing
someone else's memory instantly creates a kind
of reinterpretation on the part of the
hearer. This makes me feel that forceful
reinterpretation for no other purpose than
to reinterpret, at this stage, would seem
trite, and go against what it is that I want
to experiment with.
I have learned a great deal and am learning
a great deal. I hope that those who participated
with me in this project find that they can come
away with something more than numbered a lot
of my hair.
I'll keep up the work.
See you on the playa,
Tara
|