Induced Underbelly is a mixed-media installation revealing material experiences. The form, resembling a collapsed tent, is now a hollow belly filled with rainwater, grasping at fleshy beeswax-coated cheesecloth. At the center, worn to a sore red and dilating to the gap of salted earth below, it mimics a distended belly button during pregnancy or a gnawed nipple, dripping a single drop onto the floor below. Each drop mixes with potent and abundant salt from the Great Salt Lake, creating a solution. As it spans and grows, mirroring the large overhead body, they overgrow, formulating a bridge and gaining corrosive leverage over the outstretched, brittle steel-limbed standing structure. Once they held water, now they are self-destructive, unknowingly unable to see what lies beneath.
This piece is based on my experience growing up in a conservative, hyper-religious environment, where, from birth, individuals are taught to shape their lives around becoming mothers. This cycle of young motherhood continues as women give up alternative futures, goals, or instincts that allow them to mature emotionally and negotiate motherhood on their own terms. Geographically, I wanted to highlight the similarity of Utah’s eco-politics, especially the crisis of the Great Salt Lake’s ongoing destruction and its consequences for its distinct ecosystem, as well as the cost to human life. By exposing uncanny body elements, I am interested in creating a space to share the narratives and experiences of Utah women in relation to the land they occupy.
