This installation was created for the back room of Arthur Roger Gallery in 1999. It was made of six sheets of curvable plywood and mounted so as to mimic the curved panoramic feeling of a planetarium. It is painted with oil. The figures, resourced from the drawing of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, a mentor to Freud. Charcot cataloged the dramatic poses that women who were diagnosed with hysteria performed during epileptic-like seizures. In my reading about hysteria, I discovered that the women were often hospitalized for not conforming to 19th century norms. In Skywatching, the hysterical figures, recreated by a model I worked with, are paired with the actual constellations with the intention of freeing the women to float in the universe. The installation was lost and exists only in documented form.
This installation was created for the back room of Arthur Roger Gallery in 1999. It was made of six sheets of curvable plywood and mounted so as to mimic the curved panoramic feeling of a planetarium. It is painted with oil. The figures, resourced from the drawing of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, a mentor to Freud. Charcot cataloged the dramatic poses that women who were diagnosed with hysteria performed during epileptic-like seizures. In my reading about hysteria, I discovered that the women were often hospitalized for not conforming to 19th century norms. In Skywatching, the hysterical figures, recreated by a model I worked with, are paired with the actual constellations with the intention of freeing the women to float in the universe. The installation was lost and exists only in documented form.