performance/video water ritual, 2011
25 min 1 sec, set on indefinite loop
displayed on 52″ HD flat screen monitor hung vertical or showed as a single channel work
“…Clark’s healing rituals stand in a class of their own…”
–Jillian St. Jacques, Afterimage, the Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Vol. 44 #4
Breaking the “4th wall” barrier, this piece is a transmutation device. Within it, the artist performs a water ritual. Text instructions invite the viewer’s participation. Each time the video is played its curative potency is reignited. It utilizes video technology as a conduit to deliver the energetic and spiritual structure set up in the ritual, thus pointing to the unseen world in a post colonial culture where this is often dismissed. DAKINI stands in contrast to misapprehensions and misconceptions within the western/patriarchal perspective validating the efficacy of indigenous people’s healing practices and exhibiting respect for the feminine principal as its is discussed in Taoist Yin/Yang philosophy. It employs the science of eastern Raja (mind) yogic training. It displays the day to day impact of the mind/body connection, as well as the implications posed by quantum physics on the energetic nature of all matter. Juxtaposing sincerity with irony, DAKINI also humorously challenges conventions and biases within Californian multi-cultural spiritual subculture, while functioning as a portrait of that subculture. The piece touches upon capitalism’s impact on transmutative, creative and spiritual processes. It overtly depicts transformation and catharsis, which is often the ulterior result of the artistic process. It is also a requiem in part, for Alexander Mcqueen utilizes the the British designer’s Baroque floral gold bottom booties from his final collection.
“…an aesthetic of risk runs high throughout Clark’s oeuvre, and, when combined with acts of spiritualism, her pieces become a sort of spiritual wager, act of faith that testify to the potential of unverifiable powers to alter or shift our rational, visible, material order… In the performance/video DAKINI (2011)…her ritualistic gestures place her in a place of vulnerability once more…. because she is dealing in spirituality, that most conflicted of stances, regarded with skepticism in artistic and intellectual circles…” ” –Jillian St. Jacques, Afterimage, The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Vol 44 # 4, 2017