Rebecca Volinsky

Region: Pacific Coast

I work with materials that are excreted by, ingested in, and applied to the human body to clean, nourish, and adorn. These materials are taken from my home and include cosmetics (lipstick, eye liner), food (liquid and solid), bathing and cleaning products (shampoo, toothpaste), and bodily excretions (lint, dust, hair). I use these materials in various physical processes such as pouring, mixing, bagging, encasing, documenting, packaging, and preserving.

The work asks both the viewer and creator to contemplate process and change upon each viewing as the pieces decompose, mold, or preserve themselves over time. The final result is both a portrait of my physical body and a taxonomy of consumption. Through the use of different media and approaches such as performance, photography, painting, video documentation, and installation, I ask myself, “How do you capture life and movement in the work itself? How can the work accept its own death?” I aim to present process rather than the documentation of a process.