Nothing but a Body / No-Body was performed as part of Changing Room, an exhibition at 65GRAND running from June 29- August 4, 2018. The work emerged from research into the history of melancholia and black bile and ruminates on how grief may be held in or worn on the objectified female body.

SCORE

Part One.

[Spoken while carving the word “BODY” into wooden stage:]

If our bodies stored bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision could provide release.

If our bodies stored bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision could open the floodgates.

“Nothing but a body in my mind, I’m nothing but a body in my mind”

“Nobody’s ever knew, nobody, and nobody’s felt like you, nobody”

“No-body, no-bo-dy, nobody, no-body, no-bo-dy, nobody”

“Nobody’s ever knew, nobody, and nobody’s felt like you, nobody”

“Nothing but a body in my mind, I’m nothing but a body in my mind”

“No-body, no-bo-dy, nobody, no-body, no-bo-dy, nobody”

[Spoken while bent over, grasping flowers:]

“Mourning is regularly the reaction to the loss of a loved person, or to the loss of some abstraction which has taken the place of one, such as one’s country, liberty, an ideal, and so on.” “The word "melancholy" derives from Greek μέλαινα χολή (melaina kholé) meaning 'black bile', from the belief that an excess of black bile caused depression.”

When I was twelve, my aunt died, and I decided to mourn her death by wearing black for a week. Instead of asking where mourning intersected with melancholy, I wore it on my body.

Does being right up on the edge of pleasure and pain allow me to better distinguish between the two?

Part Two.

Since our bodies store bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision will provide release.

Since our bodies store bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision will open the floodgates.

Since our bodies store bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision will provide release.

Since our bodies store bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision will open the floodgates.

Since our bodies store bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision will provide release.

Since our bodies store bad feelings in the form of black bile, an incision will open the floodgates.

[Use feet to gather black goo into incisions in wood that say “BODY.”]

“Nothing but a body in my mind, I’m nothing but a body in my mind”

“Nobody’s ever knew, nobody, and nobody’s felt like you, nobody”

“No-body, no-bo-dy, nobody, no-body, no-bo-dy, nobody”

“Nobody’s ever knew, nobody, and nobody’s felt like you, nobody”

“Nothing but a body in my mind, I’m nothing but a body in my mind”

“No-body, no-bo-dy, nobody, no-body, no-bo-dy, nobody”