Caroline Rivera, Student Work

My body sculpture was inspired by Yoko Ono's Cut Piece, in which spectators are invited to snip off her clothing. In my performance piece, spectators were giving me something, rather than taking away. I designed and constructed a dress from canvas and painted with black paint. A tool dipped in bleach left marks on the dress. After each spectator made a mark on the dress, I responded with a paper flower containing to positive messages in two languages, Spanish and English. The dress then served as a memory of a time and place. After everyone left their mark, the dress was lit with black lights in a ceremonial manner to signify the ending of the ritual.