"The Emotional Trash Can"
as part of The Cries of San Francisco, a project by Allison Smith
Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA, June 2011
The Emotional Trash Can is a structured interaction that examines intimacy, privacy and authorized vs. unauthorized services. Inspired by my grandmother, who is a healer in a small town in Bosnia & Hercegovina, my character provides an opportunity to be vulnerable in public settings.
The Emotional Trash Can is the human receptacle for all the things you do not want to feel. I am a little bit of all the following: witch, exorcist, therapist, a gypsy fortuneteller, and above all, a damn good friend with an excellent ear and a good heart. My service as a street peddler is to help you come to terms with all the negative emotions you might have. Most importantly, I am here to help you find perfection in your own imperfection. All you have to do is tell me your story, write down a few words of phrases that capture your undesired situation and as a final, epic gesture of your emotional purging, throw the piece of paper in my trash can. For only $5, I will paint a quick, ink and watercolor portrait of you. The painting will symbolize the transcendence from the old, burdened YOU, to the new, free YOU. At the end of the show, I will burn the scraps of paper you have given me.
as part of The Cries of San Francisco, a project by Allison Smith
Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA, June 2011
The Emotional Trash Can is a structured interaction that examines intimacy, privacy and authorized vs. unauthorized services. Inspired by my grandmother, who is a healer in a small town in Bosnia & Hercegovina, my character provides an opportunity to be vulnerable in public settings.
The Emotional Trash Can is the human receptacle for all the things you do not want to feel. I am a little bit of all the following: witch, exorcist, therapist, a gypsy fortuneteller, and above all, a damn good friend with an excellent ear and a good heart. My service as a street peddler is to help you come to terms with all the negative emotions you might have. Most importantly, I am here to help you find perfection in your own imperfection. All you have to do is tell me your story, write down a few words of phrases that capture your undesired situation and as a final, epic gesture of your emotional purging, throw the piece of paper in my trash can. For only $5, I will paint a quick, ink and watercolor portrait of you. The painting will symbolize the transcendence from the old, burdened YOU, to the new, free YOU. At the end of the show, I will burn the scraps of paper you have given me.
Perfect Place/No Place: Re-Imagining Utopia
Million Fishes Gallery, San Francisco, CA, July 2011
For the performance at Million Fishes Gallery, I took words that people used during my first performance (Allison Smith's project: Cries of San Francisco) to describe themselves and made 54 cards with those words written on them. Gallery visitors were asked to pick seven cards that they felt an emotional reaction to. They then had the opportunity to tell me why they made those choices. Recycling other people's words, the cards served as a starting point for gallery visitors to tell me about their own hopes, dreams, and insecurities. Contemplating the stories that I heard from the gallery visitors, I made small paintings that served as documents of each interaction.
Million Fishes Gallery, San Francisco, CA, July 2011
For the performance at Million Fishes Gallery, I took words that people used during my first performance (Allison Smith's project: Cries of San Francisco) to describe themselves and made 54 cards with those words written on them. Gallery visitors were asked to pick seven cards that they felt an emotional reaction to. They then had the opportunity to tell me why they made those choices. Recycling other people's words, the cards served as a starting point for gallery visitors to tell me about their own hopes, dreams, and insecurities. Contemplating the stories that I heard from the gallery visitors, I made small paintings that served as documents of each interaction.
Elysian Passage, Los Angeles, CA, August 2016
As an artist collective, Maja Ruznic, Joshua Hagler, and Rebecca Farr mined the rich past of Elysian Park as three characters who performed playful and poignant events. These performances, utilized sound, clay, paint, chalk, doors, dresses, silence, yarn and even the spitting of vodka, payed homage to memories lost in the park’s many stages of aspiration and decline often forgotten or ignored in Los Angeles. Using personal ritual as a compass, the collective voice was of service to the land in the hope of healing through remembering.
As an artist collective, Maja Ruznic, Joshua Hagler, and Rebecca Farr mined the rich past of Elysian Park as three characters who performed playful and poignant events. These performances, utilized sound, clay, paint, chalk, doors, dresses, silence, yarn and even the spitting of vodka, payed homage to memories lost in the park’s many stages of aspiration and decline often forgotten or ignored in Los Angeles. Using personal ritual as a compass, the collective voice was of service to the land in the hope of healing through remembering.
