Know me by my gilded gods

gold wrapped round my neck
lace binding my breast
implants straight to my brain
damage done to family and friend’s
standards to compare status
updates to record a life in circuitry
designed to web the world

Break it.

(RE)

Temple Face

Temple Face – Rachel England – Collage – 2009

For many abstract artists, there is a desire to get to the spirit of the thing rather than committing to a particular mind-set. This work may seem to be an attempt to conceal or distort, but when a recognizable work of art has been altered, there is a desire to get back to the basic understanding of that object; to understand the original intent in conjunction with my intent in altering the work.

Whether religious works of art were originally made as a commission or an act of faith, this iconography of faith has shaped our understanding of God. It also, being a product of this world, will inevitably morph based on the condition of its environment. This work is about seeking the spirit rather than focusing on the flesh, its cravings, and all its delusions. It is an exploration of value, context, displacement, history, visual information, and how we form conclusions based on these ideas.

Source Material

Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art
Pg. 154-164
Valerie Jaudon and Joyce Kozloff
“Art Hysterical Notions of Progress and Culture” (1977-78)

April, 20 2011

do you remember the bird
flying over the barbed-wire
cage we were herded
through on our way
into the camp?

i was sitting indian-
style at dawn when
i heard it out through the
empty window frame

singing in the dry dust
its chirps rang hollow
like freedom and
vaccuous like the weather
seems to be

i saw the grave you
made for our baby
i would have cried
if this thing hadn’t
ever attatched itself behind
my face

ribbon of awarness
pulling like tape

i’m begging for a transfer
into your cabin
i think it’s going to get me killed
even so i’ll never leave you
just think of me
and i’ll be there

i will be as still
as possible when
they come for me
a little less still
once they leave

just think of me
and we’ll be free

(JWSC)