Shemira- in Hebrew means- to guard, or to observe. It is also the Jewish practice of tending to and guarding a body from death until burial.  This piece is a self portrait cast in polyurethane garlic skins. The cantilevered topless goaltender is confronted by serpent emerging from the plastic mosaic ice, entering her crease. Around the perimeter of the are tiles cast in Scagliola (rabbit skin glue, plaster and pigment). They say:

“Stick On The Ice, Position, Dina, Joan”. 

This is the mantra I repeat while tending goal. 

Somatic practitioner Tada Hozumi theorizes that one of the reasons grief is so hard to process within white communities is the overall lack of hip movement within white culture. I wonder about Goal Tending which requires rapid hip movements and maintaining a fully embodied meditative mid set.  

Shemira 2024

installation view, the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Fransisco

aprox 6′ x 8′ x 4′
steel, garlic skins, scagliola (rabbit skin glue, pigment) wood, pigment, assorted hardware, plexiglass, concrete