Catharsis

Catharsis is a performative installation that will bring a cathartic end to the morning of my late husband, Jens H Lichtenberger. During his short illness and untimely death 8 years ago, I collected many objects, video and sound that speak to not only the medical experience but also his journey until his death. This is an exploration of not just Jens, his life and his passing, of the environmental legacy of hospitalisation and home care, but of his absence from myself and others.
After his death, I collected and compiled many of his photographic artworks and his lifetime of writing, and I produced a book titled ‘I Kicked a Stone in Metaphor’. I will use this book as a muse to explore my connection to him and his passing. I will examine and engage with the single use of materials that this final life journey creates.
With the exhibition falling through our personal ‘Festival of Us’, beginning with my birthday (May 13), our wedding anniversary (May 19), and ending with his birthday (May 20), this timely exhibition will explore the joys and associated loss of this companionship.
I will work (Friday to Sunday) throughout the exhibition to transform the Backroom Gallery Space into an installation that develops towards an unknown immersive finale.