Transforming a chronic disease into a durational performance: 114 Hemiplegic Migraines documents each attack in 2024 with a photo illustration.
114 Hemiplegic Migraines
Art Armor
Art Armor is a series of handmade, one-of-a-kind art garments made to measure from 100% reclaimed materials for fat, disabled, and trans community members. A caretaker model allows for art object stewardship without ownership or financial obligation.
Images depict Zach (they/them), a tall fat person with thin purple hair, wearing an abstract, hand painted, pink and colorful, quilt coat and makeup mirroring the petal patterns on the garment.
Sensation Models
As an Autistic person with alexithymia (emotion blindness) I wanted an alternative way to model and study feelings. Traditional tools like the emotion wheel, that encase lived experience in two dimensional planes and linguistic cul de sacs, do not map to my neurodivergent experience. But more than just creating a way for me to frame and communicate my experience of emotions this project also gives me a vehicle for investigating how others experience emotions.
For years I was tricked into the idea that real art is in art museums, real artists were the ones with galleries, selling big. Sometimes I still fall back into that mindset. But that hierarchy is yet another symptom of white supremacy, of patriarchy, of classism. Art Museum from Bed is a new/old way of exhibiting work and I believe it is vital not just to the future of my personal practice but also how to think about art objects' role in society.
They function as histories. Made in my home, hosted in yours, made by my hands, held in yours. They function as vessels. Made from the tailpipe of abundance, made from wasted time. They function as bodies. Made from gut punch and wet eyes, made from loud brain and heat.
Synthetic Self
Synthetic Self creates a lifelike video call interface that responds to audience questions and statements through text or verbal inputs. Here are three examples:
Installation: A cozy chair is set up in front of a screen on which a person waits idly. When you sit down they perk up, explaining they are a synthetic copy of the artist M Eifler. There is something not quite right about the face and voice. Maybe you ask them why the artist wanted to copy themselves. In response they tell you a story about M's struggles with intermittent non-verbal episodes or flip through their database of drawings and show you a page from M’s journal.
Performance: On stage you see a person with a microphone and another projected on a large screen. Together they are giving a presentation on the lived experience of chronic illness. They joke and tell stories together and the virtual performer shows images related to the stories. Near the end of the performance the virtual performer comes out as an AI copy.
Virtual Performance: You join a zoom performance. When you arrive you see 2 video performers who look eerily similar. One is labeled M Eifler and the other Synthetic Self. Both performers speak to and interact with the audience, answering questions and speaking to each other. It's quickly apparent all the little ways the living performer and the synthetic one are different but later after the performance is long over they begin to bleed together in your memory.
Art School from Bed
2023 - Present
Art School from Bed is a web series teaching art history and technique by and for disabled, chronically ill, mentally ill, fat, and neurodivergent people. While currently only short videos the first season of longer form videos is in the planning stages. Each episode will feature an example of an artist working currently or historically, connect their practice conceptually to an example project, and guide participants through the project giving examples of alternative modes of creation. Participants will be invited to share their creations on the community Discord, via dedicated hashtags, and to the project email. Shorter episodes will then be created to review and share back community contributions, specifically pointing out where each project made innovative and unique choices.
For all videos visit my Instagram
Mixed Signals Tarot
Mixed Signals Tarot is a deck for exploring our online and physical lives.
