River Bed is a double-entendre for the bed or channel in which a river flows as well as a metaphorical bed, which in this case is the site for desire and longing. Using my standard queen sheet dimension, I brushed it with matte medium and sand I collected from the edge of the Rio Grande.
The specificity of place is important in that this is where my bodies carnal desires were awoken a year after the birth of my second child.
By rubbing sand onto a queen sheet that was collected by the river side, the earth becomes a site for bringing together the maternal body and the sensual body. Uncertain that I made sensuality perceptible, I got my body wet and rolled in the sand onto the sheet, which was prepared with matte medium (adhesive). Evidence of this act was captured through the marks that were left behind.
The Performative act of River-Bed seeks to obliterate the identity dichotomy of mother-whore, and reclaims the body as a holistic entity unified in body and mind. It draws inspiration from Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta, who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork.
The obsessive act of reasserting my ties with the earth is an objectification of my existence. – Ana Mendieta
By engaging body and earth, both as material and theme, the work further attempts to bring into dialogue theories of gender and nation in the age of #Me Too.
