The performance, Gitmo/Satchmo, was developed shortly after the horrific images of prisoner torture abuse emerged from Abu Ghraib. Gitmo is the slang for Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Satchmo is the nickname of the great Louis Armstrong, known for "What a Wonderful World".  These two spaces were polar opposites. What goes through the mind of the prisoner beyond the obvious and how does the mind escape the physical restraints. I looked at boredom and depictions of this type of hell through popular culture and literature including Hotel California and Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit".

The performance involved intervals of silence and inactivity interjected with periods of extreme motion and physical pain. I carved No Exit into my chest with a razor box cutter and stitched my lips together with thread.

Exhibition Catalog