FRESH RELICS
Fresh Relics interrogates the fragmentation and sacralization of bodies, revealing the tensions between sanctity and desecration, embodiment and objectification. By examining the tradition of relic-making-the disinterring, dismembering, and dispersal of saintly bodies-as a means of spreading belief and cultivating power, I explore how sacred fragmentation transforms bodies into objects of veneration, control, and violation. I investigate which parts are discarded, worshipped, or violated within our current cultural frameworks.
Through layered materials and forms-glass, silicone, spray foam, and medical tubing-I confront the history of bodily fragmentation as a spiritual practice, medical intervention, and a site of trauma, questioning what is preserved, what is lost, and who decides.
For the soundscape, I performed the early Christian ritual of collecting martyr’s tomb dust (hanānā)-a practice believed to channel divine intercession through material traces of the dead. For this work, I ingested dust gathered from my ancestors’ graves and recorded the visceral sounds of my body digesting it. This act subverts the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation by literalizing consumption as a transformative act-one that reclaims agency over fragmented histories and challenges institutional control of sacred materiality.
Fresh Relics is an invitation to consider the complex intersections of belief, embodiment, and power shape how bodies are fragmented, venerated, and controlled.
Through layered materials and forms-glass, silicone, spray foam, and medical tubing-I confront the history of bodily fragmentation as a spiritual practice, medical intervention, and a site of trauma, questioning what is preserved, what is lost, and who decides.
For the soundscape, I performed the early Christian ritual of collecting martyr’s tomb dust (hanānā)-a practice believed to channel divine intercession through material traces of the dead. For this work, I ingested dust gathered from my ancestors’ graves and recorded the visceral sounds of my body digesting it. This act subverts the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation by literalizing consumption as a transformative act-one that reclaims agency over fragmented histories and challenges institutional control of sacred materiality.
Fresh Relics is an invitation to consider the complex intersections of belief, embodiment, and power shape how bodies are fragmented, venerated, and controlled.
Listen to sound here