Project 2: Exhibit Stall “A”

Description:

This project was intended to be viewed as an “art bomb”, a piece of artwork that is left anonymously in a public space for temporary viewing by the general public in that area. It consisted of a life-sized model of a post-operational intersexed infant surrounded by images of intersexed genetalia and surgical knives displayed in a public restroom stall. The model infant’s body was wrapped in its entirety with bandage tape, and red paint mixed with fake blood dripped from the bandages over its genital area to simulate bleeding following a genital reconstruction surgery. The model was positioned sitting on the toilet and was secured to the toilet seat with yarn. Several prints of a single image of an intersexed infant’s genitals with the word “MINE” displayed boldly beneath them wall-papered the stall, and a printed image of surgical knives was displayed on the wall directly behind the infant model. A video of the entire creation process with an explanatory narrative was created as a documentation of the project. Watch the video.

Design:

The infant model was constructed using packing tape, staples, construction paper, and bandage tape with dimensions inspired by sketches of infants from online drawing tutorials. Watercolor paints and costume blood were then applied to the genital area and dried lightly with a hairdryer. The model was driven to the display site and the set-up time took about fifteen minutes. The printed images on the wall were downloaded images, manipulated with Photoshop 7.0 and printed on my home printer. They were attached to the walls of the stall with packing tape, and the door to the stall was left open. The documentation video was created using film footage of the creation process and Photoshop images of the narrative edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Music for the video:

“String Quintet in E” by Luigi Boccherini

“New Born” by Muse

Discourse:

The project was created as a reaction to the film “Surgical Construction of Ambiguous Genitalia”, a medical training video featuring footage of actual surgeries on living intersexed infants. The class discussion after the film touched on ideas about the questionable necessity of the surgeries and also the absence of consent by the patients shown or any follow up footage to qualify the physical success of the surgeries or the emotional and social well-being of the patients as they aged and transitioned through puberty and adulthood. The project, displayed in an area where aspiring surgeons might view it, was an attempt to give a voice to these issues and to a number of intersexed born people who have been mutilated without their consent.