(de)composition: self portrait, le, infant (films)

Created as a self portrait, (de)composition expresses my desire to find beauty in the return of my physical body to the earth once I die. Using an unfired ceramic bust of myself, the (de)composition: self portrait video is a visual representation of the breakdown of the human form. The video of the clay bust slowly disintegrating in a pool of water has a quiet, meditative quality to it. The slow-falling flakes of clay and the floating tendrils of clay fog create a spiritual, calming element that I have not often associated with the idea of death. At the end of the hour long video, the falling debris creates a fog that eventually envelops the head, signifying the way we are slowly forgotten in the memory of the living and are lost in history.