This project is inspired by the “Adder’s Tongue Credenza,” Northern Renaissance tableware designed to protect nobility from poisoning at banquets. The amuletic function of this Austrian object derives its lore from Pliny the Elder’s Natural Histories, and in response I’ve created an inverted interpretation wherein the eco-erotic pleasure of lesbians acts as an antidote to the poison of present day nobility. Ceramic mango seed amulets, erotically charged handspun, hand dyed yarns woven into creaturely textiles, TC2 woven text, bronze studded steel, video of a mango feasting ritual, and artist books with mango seed covers come together as a talisman for eco-erotic power and protection.
On the new moon the adders converge to make tongue stones and the lesbians assemble to suck mangos, 2024-25, bronze studded steel bones, ceramic amulets, brass wire, raw wool locks, flax paper pulp, hand spun fibers (linen, tussah silk, red eri silk, merino, mohair, and romney wools hand dyed with marigold, onion skins, eucalyptus, logwood, and cochineal, bamboo silk chemically dyed), commercially spun fibers (linen, merino, silk, mercerized cotton)
Pliny's Lore, 2024, mercerized cotton warp, alpaca/silk blended yarn, metallic thread, handwoven on the TC2 loom
Tongue Stones, mercerized cotton warp, wool, alpaca/silk blended yarn, handwoven on TC2 loom
There are so many nests of pleasure on the banks of the Yuba River, 2024, mx painted unmercerized cotton warp, mx dyed merino/silk blended yarn, steel brazed with bronze, raw wool from Arcata, CA, metallic thread, and ceramic mango seed amulets
Tongue Stone Incantation, 2024, steel, mercerized cotton warp, alpaca, silk, metallic thread, handwoven on TC2 loom
A coven comes together and sticks their tongues on mangos like the adders of lore/Sweetness engulfs their mouths/Their eyes roll back into their heads/They transmit their pleasure wishes into the cyanide molecules of the mangos heart, 2024, video projection, soundscape, mercerized cotton warp, wool, silk
Waxing Gibbous Mango Suck Ritual, 2024, ritual performance, Oakland, CA
