Ablution
ashes, sauna towels, headphones, bench, wooden screen
audio: 15 mins 41secs
Installation sound work
Artist Statement 2019
A small wooden bench is situated behind a screen in the exhibition space. On the bench, in a row, are three small square cloths that have been previously used as sauna towels to sit on in the sauna at the Arteles residency in Finland.
Two of the cloths have headphones placed on them inviting the viewer to sit on the cloth and to put on the headphones. There is a sound recording of a sauna experience being played.
The middle cloth has a pile of ashes on it. These are the ashes of the wood burnt during the sauna in which the sound recording took place.
Saunas have always been central to the cycle of living and dying. Historically this ritualistic and often daily practice has encompassed the full gamut of a presence on earth including the giving of birth and the cleansing of the body after death.