Interdisciplinary Conference

TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

in Art & Science

27-29 September 2023, Malta Society of Arts, Valletta

Jejunum
Jennifer Zackin

2023
Nylon rope, one pound of red-hot fireballs, chastity belt

The jejunum is part of the small intestine primarily responsible for absorbing nutrients such as sugar, amino acids and fatty acids. This object, woven from fluorescent pink and yellow nylon rope using a 1970s style macrame and knotting technique, is inspired by this biological organ.
A chastity belt is woven into the stomach form; a pound of Red Hot fireballs is contained within.
As a kid I rarely sucked on a Red Hot fireball for the fear of the intense spicy flavor. Later in life I came to understand the highly processed ingredients in these candies—such as artificial red dye and corn syrup—to be poison to the digestive system.

Jennifer Zackin

Jennifer Zackin has been integrating public art, sculpture, installation, performance, collaboration, ceremony, photography, video, collage and drawing into acts of reverence and reciprocity. Whether wrapping trees in patterns of brightly colored rope, growing medicinal herbs in a public garden for public use, offering large masses of rose petals to oceans and lakes, creating absorbent tentacles ("hair booms") out of salvaged materials to aid in the clean-up efforts of toxic spills, Zackin seeks to engage and create community in her process, bringing art and ritual into everyday life. Every act is an exploration of exchange, communion, performance, skill-sharing and mark-making. Her work has been exhibited in national and international museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art NY, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art CT, Spertus Museum - Chicago IL, Rose Museum MA, the Wexner Center for the Arts OH, Contemporary Art Museum - Houston TX, The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden - Norway, Institute of Contemporary Art - Boston MA and the Zacheta National Art Gallery - Warsaw, Poland. Commissions include Governors Island NYC with LMCC, Katonah Art Museum NY, Socrates Sculpture Park LIC - Queens NY and the Berkshire Botanical Gardens - Stockbridge, MA. She is the recipient of fellowships and residencies, including Factory Direct at Pinchbeck Rose Farm, Art Omi, Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture

Hosting Institution

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