How Do I Hold Those 17 Days?2019
Performance with rocking chair, rope, ice |
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On Saturday, September 7, 2019 my eighteen year-old cousin, Jordyn Lee Airy, ended her own life. Seventeen days later, on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 my nephew Parker David Baird was born.
Through the performance "How Do I Hold Those 17 Days?" I am questioning how I can possibly grieve death while simultaneously be excited about welcoming a new life. I don't feel that I can be fully present with either emotion. Instead, I find myself sitting idly somewhere in between the two extremes. I rock back and forth as slowly as possible with a block of ice suspended over me. I do not reach out to touch the ice. Instead it touches me. Each cold drip of water lands upon my legs and pools beneath me in an ever growing puddle. Even though the ice is eventually gone, I still remain, rocking back and forth.
Through the performance "How Do I Hold Those 17 Days?" I am questioning how I can possibly grieve death while simultaneously be excited about welcoming a new life. I don't feel that I can be fully present with either emotion. Instead, I find myself sitting idly somewhere in between the two extremes. I rock back and forth as slowly as possible with a block of ice suspended over me. I do not reach out to touch the ice. Instead it touches me. Each cold drip of water lands upon my legs and pools beneath me in an ever growing puddle. Even though the ice is eventually gone, I still remain, rocking back and forth.
