[the interactive body]

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the project is a quilt of video images that when rolled over alternate between still images and text. my interest is in the idea of "passing down," although not what people generally think of passing down from generation to generation, i.e. quilts, wedding gowns, jewelry, etc. we also pass down disease and disorder, and this project looks specifically at mental illness (here bipolar disorder, although it is not specifically stated within the piece) in my family which runs on my mother's side of the family. preliminary research theorizes the location of the gene responsible for bipolar (or manic-depressive) disorder on the X chromosome making women doubly receptive to it. the still images in the quilt are photos i took in the past month of my family in eastern europe, who i had not seen since i was twelve. instead of looking at these people trying to find hints of physical resemblance i looked at them searching for signs of disorder, and the images i took reflect that. the text in the quilt consists mostly of statements from an interview with my father about my mother's family and their illnesses. my father considers the disease to be in the blood and he fears that my sister and i will have more of my mother's blood than his. the project stems from a previous project in which i was investigating the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and considering how it characterizes femininity as disorder.

work considered during this project:

annette messager: the boarders at rest (1971-2)

louise bourgeois: recent works in cloth

mona hatoum: (video: changing parts, measures of distance)
corps etranger (1994)
entrails carpet, 1995

Dancing at the Louvre: Faith Ringgold's French Collection and Other Story Quilts

INTERACTIVE BODY PROJECT