2020

1050 cactus spines on paper

22 x 30 inches unframed, 28 x 38 inches framed

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I think a lot about power dynamics and why things hurt us. Whether they’re diseases or plants, institutions or systems, friends or strangers. Picked Apart was a seven-hour performance where I pulled each spine out of a prickly pear cactus, taking its sole defense. After taking the power away from the cactus, a dangerous drawing was created in I've Rendered You Defenseless.

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Some days I feel like the cactus, others the spines, and every now and then the pliers that ripped them out.