Monique Rose from the New York Academy of Art has been working on a life-sized wax candle sculpture. Her performance art show “Union” will culminate in a metaphorical act of self-healing; she will sit still and watch the candle burn until either the gallery closes or the flame dies. Come participate at your own convenience in meditative moments of collective self-awareness.
Where: The Living Gallery, Brooklyn
Address: 1094 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11221
When: Friday, 11th Aug 2023 from 11AM to 11PM (or until the flame dies!)
About MJR: Hailing from the small agricultural town of Castroville, California, Monique Jane Rose is a Mexican American artist, singer-songwriter, poet and teacher. Her work explores the transcendence of trauma in women and families.
In her latest series she evokes mimesis, which in trauma theory, is the subconscious impulse to recreate traumatic scenarios in our lives. One of the defining characteristics of mimesis as a traumatic response is its compulsiveness, meaning that the individual does not have control (or awareness) of their own compulsive reenactments of past traumatic events. Thus it becomes that the most effective approach to post-traumatic healing is cultivating self-awareness. This series involves two bodies of work that examine these two extreme states of compulsiveness and awareness: a multimedia triptych called Mimesis (now on display at the New York Academy of Art), and “Union”, a performance art piece involving a life-sized sculpture made of candle wax.
In the artist’s own words:
The melting of the sculpture, Union, represents transcendence of self-destructive cycles through self-awareness. The two halves represent a separation between my consciousness and subconscious mind, including parts of myself I have cut off (and lost awareness of) in acts of self-preservation. The two halves will be united by the melting of the candle. This represents union through “yoga,” or the aspirational dissolving of the ego.
I strive to cultivate self-awareness through daily meditation. This is why the sculpture is seated in ardha siddhasana, a meditative pose. Through cultivation of self-awareness, I have been able to cope with generations of family trauma that have caused many of my ancestors to self-destruct. The performance piece is a personal act of healing, and is also an invitation for viewers to practice self-awareness in their own lives, (whether it be through meditation, spirituality, art, or whatever brings out an experience of unity in them).
