Cleanse (2024)

Single-channel video projection of an endurance performance done with a brush meant for exfoliation, a wash basin filled with water, and a shower mat.

“Cleanse” explores spiritual rejuvenation through the lens of a physical cleansing of the body. The Biblical account of the nation of Israel details how priests had to wash themselves up to their elbows before entering the tabernacle in order to remain clean before the eyes of God. While the stipulations of modern-day Christianity no longer require such a ritual, the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:23 and 24 urges Christians to "continue to be made new" in their mental attitude and "put on the new personality that was created according to God's will." Thus, this video artwork takes an action previously associated with holiness and places it in the context of a contemporary struggle against sin, cleansing until the artist’s skin begins to burn. As we try to purge the perceived sinful parts of ourselves day by day, we begin to wonder, "Until when will we fully be cleansed?" It is a never-ending cycle of scrubbing away at impurities that nonetheless return, as "to err is human.”