Infinite Regress
Craft Victoria, 2022

Infinite Regress examines cultural attitudes toward death and the body. For this exhibition, I issued a public call-out asking: What would you do with your body after death — if there were no laws or restrictions, an unlimited budget, and no environmental or socio-political concerns? Five responses were selected for inclusion in three beaded artworks woven on hand-made wooden looms.

Of more than one hundred responses, most referred to burial or cremation, the options most commonly available within the legal framework surrounding death. The exhibition seeks to expand thought and conversation beyond these familiar forms, asking how Australian law shapes our capacity to imagine post-death possibilities for the body, and how desire and imagination, in turn, may influence the formation of law.

I like the idea of my body going, fully and all at once, 2022
330mm x 205mm
Glass beads, palladium, 24k gold, thread, Blackwood, brass, steel
Beading in Tone Code

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Decoded text within the beading:

This seems so chaotic but I want my body to be thrown in a pit of lava / volcano / earth’s incinerator. Dying feels the ultimate departure of “me” from my flesh and I think properly erasing the body would feel clean, regardless of what happens to my soul. No one would have to come, I just like the idea of my body going, fully and all at once. — Grace

 

Let me sink to the bottom of a creek or dam, 2022
330mm x 205mm
Glass beads, thread, Grevillea striata, brass, steel
Beading in Tone Code

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Decoded text within the beading:

[I would like my body to be turned into] an amulet or beads. Created with resin and dipped in gold. Ashes embedded [in the bead or amulet]. Buried with my partner. The amulet or beads needn’t come into possession of other people that way. — Anonymous

 

I would like my body to be let to sink to the bottom of a creek or dam. — Bella Tobin

 

My dad owns an oyster farm (after Anni), 2022
330mm x 205mm
Glass beads, thread, Silky Oak, brass, steel
Beading in Tone Code

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Decoded text within the beading:

I would want to be resting on top of a cloud with a single poppy on my chest. My hands resting on the poppy stalk. — Anonymous, Age 10

I would like to be created into an artificial reef or be allowed to decompose in nature. My dad owns an oyster farm and we see endless life and death regeneration. I think it would be nice to go full circle. — Anonymous