“If I could eat plastic and convert it to compost, I would. If I could eat product packaging, I would. If I could eat all advertising, I would. I would like to take the false promise of product consumption to its logical conclusion, to the point of annihilation. There is poetic justice in the idea that our waste could self-destruct in the same way we self-destruct. This is what the verb ‘to consume’ means: to eat or overwhelm something until your presence has replaced its own.
Eating is one of the most pleasurable and instinctive human activities. Being fed is an all-enveloping ‘signal’ in the womb just as potent and formative as sound or touch. In order to absorb anything, human beings dissect, fragment and pick the substance apart. We seek pleasure through our orifices by ingesting pieces of the world; in eating we do this with our bite. The closest English relative to the French word ‘piqûre’ (an insect bite), is the word ‘piquant’, meaning a sharply appetising taste, also relating to the human mind. ‘Avoir la piqûre’ means to ‘have been bitten by the bug’, an aphorism for following a trend or obsession. Taking the lead from these somatic impulses elucidated by concepts from Buddhism and ecopsychology, this body of work seeks to deal with the relentless quality of the mind, and humanity’s collective addiction to destroying the planet. Ecopsychology argues that the ‘culture of empire’, an inherently abusive system built on resource exploitation and the subjugation of peoples, has left us collectively wounded and prone to self-sabotage.”
Kai Lossgott, quoted in:
Tully, Ann-Marie. Kopping, Jennifer. 2012. Pointure: the haunted stitch. Exhibition Catalogue. University of Johannesburg Gallery, Kingsway Campus. ISBN 978-0620-53776-6. Design and Layout by Andrea Rolfes.