𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔢 𝔄𝔯𝔱𝔢 𝔬𝔳 𝔚𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔅𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱

𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖊 Altar ov 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖊 Five Thousand Six hundred and Fifty Six Unalived Anjels
2024
Installation/assemblage
Nylon rope, chair, psychiatric medication packaging, ink drawings on medication packaging, antique alarm clock, wax figure, candles, lightbulb, a copy of the Ars Goetia
~100cm x 100cm x 330cm

Exhibited at Wyrding, Chaos Magic, Nottingham 2024

5656 people died from suicide in England in 2023 (according to the Office for National Statistics). This strange and morbid altar, constructed in the likeness of one of my own would-be suicide scenes, is dedicated to them— “ 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖊 𝕱𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝕿𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕾𝖎𝖝 𝕳𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖞 𝕾𝖎𝖝 𝖀𝖓𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖉 𝕬𝖓𝖏𝖊𝖑𝖘 ” [sic], and their explicit sadness. The altar was made by channelling the anguish of my own depression through a shamanic art of imitative magic. The process of the altar’s creation, partly formed from the discarded packaging of my own psychiatric medication, was a ritual of sorcerous evocation through which the spirits of the 5656 were mimicked through my tormented state. They echoed my despair as I echoed theirs. This altar is the vision of an afflicted mind. It is not a tasteful memorial to those we have lost, because suicide is not tasteful. It disturbs and saddens us just as the loss of a loved one does, and it discomforts us because the urgency of the present reality demands our discomfort.

WE ARE IN CRISIS

𝖂𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖕
𝕭𝖊 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖇𝖊 𝖆𝖋𝖗𝖆𝖎𝖉
𝕾𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝖇𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖑𝖞.
𝕷𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓! 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖊 𝕬𝖓𝖏𝖊𝖑𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖔𝖋𝖙𝖑𝖞 𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖌.