Heidi Holmes
2022
In this body of work, the symptoms of Menopause become material
Sheets, towels, fabric, dye, vegetable dye, food colouring, bleach, paint, racks, shelves, clothes dryer, blowfly, trolley, washcloths, fasteners, broccoli juice, pots, glasses, bowls, containers, pump, silicone, vinyl, water, the measurement of blood from the artist's last Menstrual cycle, measurement of healthy pH vaginal discharge (and underwear bleaching), measurement of fluid in the artist's body, the artist's height, Vaseline, acrylic, underwear, St John's wort, horse hair, artist hair, goat milk soap, KY lubricant (sensitive), electrical cords, plugs, washing line, pegs, diamante flower. Clothes Dryer Performances daily: 9:30, 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30
Installation dimensions are variable, clothes dryer performance is 45 mins
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About:
This installation includes a 27 foot wall, covered in towel rails and racks, holding various fabrics that have been bleached, painted, dyed, frayed, folded, ironed and arranged. In the centre of the gallery space, extending from the 27-foot ceiling to the concrete floor are reams of very light-weight, bleached fabric. The reams of fabric shimmer and flap with motion, breeze or movement.
Also In the space is a domestic-sized clothes dryer on a wheeled trolley, attached to a pink extension cord. The clothes dryer cycles five times a day for forty-five minutes. It dries 3 washcloths, fitted with buttons and snaps for sound effects. The washcloths have also been soaked in broccoli juice, which is then exhausted as hot air from the rear vent of the clothes dryer and into the space. Atop the dryer is a deceased blowfly lying on its back, buzzing and vibrating with the dryer’s movement.
In the centre of the space is a collection of domestic kitchenware holding various measurements of water incuding: the measurement of blood from my last Menstrual cycle (492ml), the measurement of healthy pH vaginal discharge—causing underwear bleaching (28ml) and the measurement of water in my body (39L). This collection of measurement-holders slashes across the centre of the galley space in a scar-like fissure.
Elsewhere in the space is a clothesline hung at 20 feet with a piece of magenta fabric extending all the way to the concrete floor, self-plugging power sockets and a clear acrylic shelf hung at 14 feet with a long and drippy stalactite made of goat milk soap reaching toward the floor.
Framing the installation is a Vaseline delineation running the entire span of the gallery space, cutting through towels and fabrics, defining the height of the existing window blinds, marking the glass balustrades in a finger-smeared line of Vaseline, determining the height of the Vaseline-smeared windows and even reaching the blow-fly and clothes dryer on the trolley. This enduring line reflects the height of my body.
Click here to read more about this project.
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MFA Graduate Thesis Exhibition I, MOEC at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, Canada
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Videography by Gemma Crowe