I work to expose the violence laid upon bodies by vast, invisible systems. My work has specifically addressed medical violence, eugenics and biopolitics, and the corporeal aftermaths of colonization. The perpetual challenge of my work is in how best to render these violences witnessed but not remade, how to speak to hollow spaces made by enforced silence and the denial of justice, and how we might carry the weight of what we know once we have come to know it.

“Breach” uses the cast-iron tub as both hollow object and surrogate body. The piece attempts to disrupt flattening narratives about victims and perpetrators. Enacting fiery violence against this large, white, fat, heavy object, I intentionally do not cut it in half. Between my legs, we cannot see the extent of created damage. When I climb onto it, it is big belly, empty body, whale. The angle grinder incises metal, cutting but not splitting, leaving a scar. I tumble off the tub and pull it behind me. It lands intact triumphantly, and I am motionless. I carefully walk away.