practicing dying [2021]

In “Practicing Dying” we see the artist lying in the ubiquitous Savasana or corpse pose for forty minutes. The artist has practiced dying for forty days, starting with one minute of lying as still as possible and consecutively adding a minute per day. In response to the modern pressure of constant optimization, a minute is added each day to the artist’s Apple watch meditation timer. Instead of optimizing activity, the intention is to optimize inactivity. A death poem is written daily, inspired by the Japanese zen tradition.

On a universal level, the work is a response to impending human extinction, and the general sense of despair and eco-anxiety that pervades the age of the Anthropocene. On a personal level, the artist continues to grapple with the loss of loved ones, a dying homeland, and her own mortality.

Exhibited at:

Biography of a Passage, Art Dubai
March 2023

In Progress: In Process at Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
May - August 2022