Clutter (2024)

Site-specific installation inside of my bedroom featuring a live video feed projected onto a wall and assorted personal items thrown about (clothing, nail polish, toilet paper, notebooks, shoes, etc.). The work recreates the “depression room” that has existed in the same space during times of my declining mental health.

Description

In “Clutter”, Henriquez presents the intimate domestic space of her bedroom as a parallel to the space of her mind. Inspired by her mother's saying "a decluttered room is a decluttered mind", she recreated how her bedroom looked during a major depressive period in her life. Books, nail polish, clothing, cables, used tissues, and more can be seen around the room, making up the titular clutter accumulated as a result of the artist’s poor mental state. A 4-minute reading of excerpts from Henriquez' journals and the novel No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu plays from a speaker, encircling the room with an eerie background and providing further insight into what led to the creation of the depression room. The scene is then recorded live by a camera and projected onto the wall opposite of the bed, bringing the viewer into the clutter and drawing their attention to the mess with which they have united.

Background

This work was inspired by Tracey Emin's "My Bed" and Catherine Elwes' “Expanded Cinema: Art, Performance, The Domestic Space of Video.”