Wash
The installation is comprised of one hundred oversized ceramic soap dishes supported by metal armatures. Each porcelain dish holds a large handmade bar of soap, each with an ethnic slur set in relief and filled in with black ink. The random organization of slurs ranges from historical usage to epithets spoken in contemporary culture. The dishes span a thirty-foot-wide rectangle (fewer dishes can be used, depending on the specific space size) and are attached at heights ranging in rows from three to six feet high. The installation can be easily modified to suit the exhibition space. Three video monitors show individuals picking up the soap from the dishes, washing the inked slurs away to the point where they gradually disappear. The hateful language erodes as the bar of soap itself dissolves in a kind of universal moral purification. It’s likely that many individuals who see the exhibition will have strong responses to these slurs as they pertain to their personal experiences. Viewers will be invited to record these responses, to be included as part of an artists’ book.