Machines for Suffering I

2018 - 2019

3D prints (laser-sintered nylon) from 3D laser scans, gesso and acrylic paint

24” x 35” x 47”

Machines for Suffering is the result of my ongoing investigation into female hysteria, a once-prevalent but now-discredited medical diagnosis that was applied largely to women. At the Salpêtrière hospital in nineteenth-century Paris, which housed thousands of supposed hysterics, patients were hypnotized, subjected to electrical stimulation and ‘ovarian compression’ among other treatments. They were then led to perform attacks on stage at weekly teaching lectures, and were extensively photographed. 

I was fascinated by the folly of using the technology of photography to attempt to capture and codify madness. I used documents from the Salpêtrière to choreograph a group of dancers, who reenacted the poses for the 3D scanner. I then edited and 3D printed the fragmented scans that resulted. The final sculptures and renderings incorporate intricate scaffolds which serve to support the fractured bodies, suggesting a woman whose body, or psyche, is subject to a process of construction or demolition.

Photo Credits: Sophie Kahn, Rachel Hammersley and Emile Laskey.

(Work shown on the wall in the last installation view is by Susan Silas.)