Electric Oil.

Electric Oil by Jessica Rinland

In 1868, Laura Jernegan, a 6 year old girl from Massachusetts, USA set out on a three year whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean. During this voyage Laura wrote a journal about her life on the whaling ship. She mainly notes banal daily events, but regularly describes the slaughter of whales in great detail.

Electric Oil explores the possibility that a 6 year old who observes the slaughter of whales on a regular basis could, in later years, experience huge psychological and physical trauma. Laura’s allergy to oil, which subsequently triggers an uncontrollable act of ridding her skin of all materials, represents this trauma. The text in Electric Oil, written by Laura’s physiologist, examines the stimulus and the abstract imagery represents Laura’s memory.

via
ICA

For the past six months I've been thinking about little else other than whales. I was lucky enough to work with the incredible Jessica  and would sell my right arm to attend this event - I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

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