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| Lingering Grievances, 2011, Cotton on Felt stuffing, 38 in x 15 in x 11 in |
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| Lingering Grievances (detail), 2011, Cotton on Felt stuffing, 38 in x 15 in x 11 in |
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| Lingering Grievances, 2011, Cotton on Felt stuffing, 38 in x 15 in x 11 in |
My mother died in a hospital. She was struck by a car as she was using the pedestrian crossing. The hospital refused to release her remains before performing an autopsy. We, her family, requested the autopsy not be done as it clashes with our beliefs. The hospital denied the request and we were told that things had to be done by the book. When we went to bury her, the cemetery insisted on placing the body in a wooden box for burial. In our religion, we lower the body in the grave, put three slabs of concrete or stones on top, so animals can't dig through, and fill the rest with dirt. There is no wooden box. Wood will disintegrate underground so it is not for sanitational purposes. The cemetery insisted, however, on doing things by the book also.
In this work I have prepared a half-scale body for burial using religious text. I have followed step by step instructions on shrouding the body in five pieces of cotton. The process was a cathartic experience as I regained some control taken away from me and my family. The shrouded body has a cloth labelled "Property of Canada". It is my experience that when you die, you become the country's property. Canada can do what it chooses to your remains, requests from the next of kin be damned.
