or, if there be flooding

or, if there be flooding serves as an imagined response plan to a potential catastrophe. The title of this piece is a fragment from Advice to a Wife and Mother, published in 1878. Flooding, in the context of the book, refers to postpartum hemorrhaging. However, this euphemistic language can be more literally interpreted to reference natural disasters or rising sea levels. Blinking lights aimed at shadowy vignettes of accumulated detritus in the installation signal tenderly to the viewer a warning, a lament.
 

As a part of the programming for this exhibition, I presented a hybrid performance/artist talk around the theme of Nap Time. I covered the floor of the installation with mattresses and blankets and spoke and sang lullabies to visitors.