Where Her Tongue Wept

Description:

This exhibition featured work that Kim Dawn developed during her Western Front residency that spanned video, performance, and installation. Dawn sought to externalize the experience of memories burning under her skin, surfacing as hives as a bodily response to the fatigue of concealing trauma.

The gallery was cocooned with materials such as bedding, stuffed animals/soft sculptures, and pink insulation. However, tar and teabags stained the walls and floor, representing a lesionary process the artist called “memory sores” as she confronted the inevitable return of repressed memories. Videowork played on monitors where the artist appears blindfolded, out-of-focus, or performing washing rituals. 

The artist also performed at the exhibition opening on Jun 7, 2001. She crawled on the gallery floor covered in a pink blanket and nuzzled the feet of visitors.