Faculty of Arts & Science

Criticism and Curatorial Practice

Talia Veneruz

A Pilgrimage to Bury You ll

A Pilgrimage to Bury You ll is a visual work consisting of a narrative essay, gel transferred onto a blanket. The blanket itself is constructed out of my own weathered mattress pad hand sewn onto the very blanket my brother and I rested with throughout childhood. The materiality of a blanket is deeply important to me as a physical archive of the bodily patinas we shed in our beds. The bed is a complex site as a reservoir of waking and resting emotion, drawing attention to the dual ability of rest to evoke sleep or death. Tying into the installation and intentionality of the work, dried baby's breath rests in pocket-like votives on either side of the text. Referencing the iconography of a gravesite, this blanket drapes before the viewer from the wall, extending onto the floor before them, creating a pensive distance. Created as a process of navigating emotions surrounding the loss of my brother and the absence of a site for grieving, A Pilgrimage to Bury You becomes a materially archived history of a dematerialized living and dead corporeal relationship. Through the enduring quality of textile craft, this blanket bridges the ephemeral life and the monumental essence of the bodies that shape us most.