Hughes considers the subject from an explicitly queer perspective, exploring new references, vocabularies, and aesthetics with which to reorient our approach to surviving and dying. Drawing on the artist’s extensive research, the film’s narrative centers on a “millennial death doula” and her “mobile corpse kit.” She performs her knowledge within a field of props, which are the tools of her trade—everyday items that she manipulates to profound use: caring for the newly dead. With a matter of fact demeanor and intense physicality she guides the audience into the largely uncharted waters of corpse care—practical, political, and spiritual. Threaded with humor, grief, unknowing, and a desire for justice, her work encourages us to turn towards that which we strive so hard to avoid. The form of the video creates a tension between the subject matter of dying and the forceful liveness of the performance itself.
Every Ocean Hughes – One Big Bag
Studio Voltaire, London
28 January 2022–17 April 2022
