carrion

Installation Performance

2008

Carrion was the concluding chapter of Fornieles’ trilogy, exhibited at Paradise Row, London.

In this 72-hour performance, Fornieles explored the twin themes of violence and consumption. In a space strewn with discarded clothes stood a skeleton building over which Fornieles presided, guarding an animal carcass. For the duration of the three days she consumed no food, while lancing the hanging meat with messages of apology and thanks collected from the audience, in a gesture that combined the protest of the hunger strike with a bowing to Western body-idealism.

Compounding the difficulty in accepting simple ritualistic attempts to obtain absolution is the active, voyeuristic presence of two cameramen, who also took part in the performance as both witnesses and documentary makers. Circling the space in quasi-military costumes, the cameramen resembled vultures, alluding to the symbiotic yet problematic relationship between photographers and their subjects and further highlighting the manner in which individuals are sacrificed to the power of the image, feeding society’s voracious appetite for visual consumption.

The film Carrion, commissioned by the Fashion in Film Festival, was comprised of footage from the live performance and was screened at Tate Modern in May 2008.