This is part 4 of a 4-part-post documenting the collaborative performance installation between Cessali Fournier and Jaclyn Rawls. Our installation was part of the 2019 Lucky Art Fair exhibit (in New Orleans, LA).
The show, titled Home, interwove many aspects of trauma and healing within the context of domestic/family life. Although informed by the past, this show took place in the immediate presence. Home became a living space for healing. The private became public as visitors to the art fair witnessed Fournier and Rawls continue their healing work. They performed processing, releasing, reconnecting to safety, and research. The space also offered moments of participation to facilitate healing of the visitors, or simply to hold their own introspective experience in a sense of peace and community.
In the images featured above, Fournier and Rawls played with the idea of performance, and what it means to perform something real. The last video posted is documentation of the “processing room.” In this room, journal entries of Fournier and Rawls over the previous 2+ years of healing, including writing created during the show, were torn out and wallpaper the walls and ceiling of a walk-in closet. This installation, much like the rest of the show, evolved over the course of the exhibit.
What is Home 