As humans living a corporeal existence we are aware in varying degrees of the duality we encounter between body and spirit. Religious philosophy refers to the veil and visual art the picture plane. There is a yearning to bridge this distance and gain or regain a sense of unity thereby relieving us of an underlying feeling of alienation. For me image making is a form of magic or alchemy whereby through the process I will eventually be transformed into the essence of the matter. The picture is creating me as I create it.
Myself experiencing Catherine Richards' Shroud Chrysalis during the exhibition Flesh of the World, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, 2015
In an entirely white room, a glass table was used as a shrouding bed. Spectators were invited to be wrapped in copper taffeta; an electro-magnetic shielding fabric. The spectator was on display for the better part of 20 minutes.