The Beginning or the End

PCD0012_crpadj

pigbaby originally created during In the Flesh
in collaboration with Bob Raymond
recreated for
The Beginning or the End
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

PCD0031_crpadj

The Beginning or the End
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

PCD0032_crpadj

The Beginning or the End
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

PCD0033_crpadj

The Beginning or the End
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

PCD0035_crpadj

The Beginning or the End
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

The Beginning or the End, the final work of the Pigbaby series, explores the cyclical nature of life in death, and death in life.

venue:
Mobius
location:
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
sponsor:
Mobius, Inc
date:
November 1989

Project Notes:

Since 1990 this performance has been presented with “Dreams (breathe/don’t breathe) of Home” in the United States and in Taiwan, at galleries, festivals, colleges and conferences.

The Beginning or the End is the final work of the Pigbaby series, which began in 1984 in collaboration with Bob Raymond. The works explore the cyclical nature of life, using images of life in death, and death in life. The personas of child, mother and crone appear in each piece.

Many of the images hover on the line between humor and horror, creating a disturbing tension. While “Dreams of Home” is more playful, “The Beginning or the End” is more solemn.

The performance involve a series of ritual activities using various natural materials such as meat, fish, dirt, and there are bones everywhere – in the cradle, brushed off chairs, filling the bed, as if they were layers of the past.

I begin by introducing to the audience a small doll made out of meat and bones, and dressed in baby clothes. Soon it is time for sleep, and so I begin to sing a lullaby as I sit down and undress it for bed. The image gradually shifts its focus to the process of dying, as I go beyond the layers of clothing to gently remove the layers of meat. Finally, I lay the skeleton doll down in a cradle full of bones, undress myself, and go to the bed. Pulling back the covers, I reveal more bones, and I too lie down in them. But out of that comes new life, as a young girl in white emerges from under the red-stained tablecloth, to solemnly eat platefuls of what appears to be dirt.

Unacknowledged, but always present, an enigmatic woman is lying under the bed. She seems to be asleep or dead until the end, when her eyes open, her head turns slowly, and she looks at the audience. It is a subtle movement with larger implications.

Subsequent performances took place throughout the United States and in Taiwan, at galleries, festivals, colleges and conferences.

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