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Steps for Digesting with a Torn-Open Belly:
A Tour in 43 Parts (2022-2023)
In 2020 I began reproducing the now destroyed sculptures my
father made about his parents, who died before I was born. The
remnants of these objects were scattered around my childhood
home in various states of disrepair; rawhide stretched over heart-
shaped forms or pulled taut by cat-gut on wooden frames, like
the tiny ruins of imagined buildings. I began inserting semi-
ctitious characters into them based on second and third-hand
recollections of long-dead family members or contemporary
citizens of Węgrów I found referenced on social media or the
town’s tourism brochures: a bell maker, a historian, a singer.
I came to Poland to explore the ways that this ctional town and
its citizens could come into contact with the actual citizens,
landscapes, and history of Węgrów. This project quickly spiraled
into a web of social, material, and spatial entanglements.
Emerging from a delirious encounter with a crucix that I
mistook for a wolf on my rst night at the local monastery , this
body of work comprises a series of collaborations with Węgrów’s
residents to esh out the narrative of “The Last Jew from
Węgrów”, a half-wolf-half-man, born of a heifer, who has
remained in hiding in the town since the Second World War.
Since they were documented as part of a solo-show in Kraków,
many of the pieces in this body of work have been hidden in
various locations around the town. The green steel “wolf trap” is
planned to become a mobile monument, marking various sites of
contested memory in the town and the surrounding area.
* Cast bronze bell, clay extracted from soil in Węgrów, found cigarette carton with melted plastic and plant matter,
found frog carcass, found plastic crucix, found wood with burning and shellac, GPS with waypoint data, hand-
braided rope, inkjet print, live simulation, obstetrical chain, polyurethane, shovel, sound, weatherproofed steel
View of crucix at the top of the Parish of St.
Peter of Alcantara and St. Anthony of Padua
in Węgrów, Poland (2023)
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1. The rapid expansion of the left uterine
horn causes an uneven ination that
presses the fetal calf in the right horn
against the inner pelvic wall. This causes
the pelvis to break outward at the lower
connecting ligament.
2. The heifer falls onto her right - rear
knee but the continued expansion
eventually causes her to collapse,
thrashing, onto her right side.
3. The increased pressure causes the fetal
calf in her right uterine horn to experi-
ence stress, triggering the premature
production of excess cortisol. This, in
turn, triggers lubrication, con-
tractions, and ligament stretching.
4. The wolf’s body in her left uterine horn
grows to the point that her uterus can no
longer contain him, and tears apart at
the top, releasing amniotic uid into the
cavity of the heifer’s lower trunk. The
heifer’s four stomachs and intestines are
now pressed between the right inner wall
of her lower trunk and the wolf’s body,
whose claws pierce them, releasing
partially digested grass into the cavity of
her lower trunk, where it mingles with
the amniotic uid from her torn uterus
and blood from the major artery in her
hip that was severed by a jagged piece of
bone.
5. The wolf’s head is pinned awkwardly
between two of the heifer’s ribs as he
scrambles about in her bowels, gnashing
teeth. His thrashing causes his body to
rotate so that his head is facing toward
the heifer’s tail.
6. As the wolf rotates, his hind claws pierce
the heifer’s gallbladder and the right
lobe of her liver, releasing bile and more
blood.
7. The heifer’s thrashing crushes the fetal
calf in the right horn of her uterus
between the inner wall of her lower right
trunk, which is pressed against the
ground, and the various mangled
internal organs and the wolf’s body.
8. As the wolf’s body travels towards
the heifer’s head, he displaces her
heart and lungs, pinning them against
her inner ribcage.
9. The wolf’s hind legs begin to push up the
heifer’s gullet, whose neck is twisting
and shuddering as she tries to force his
body out of her. The wolf’s body snaps
the vertebra at the base of the heifer’s
skull as he passes up her gullet, at which
point she stops vocalizing.
10. The wolf’s hind legs push into the
heifer’s mouth, past her newly limp
tongue, and dislocate her jaw from her
skull as his body slips out of her.
1. Gwałtowne rozdęcie lewego rogu macicy
powoduje nierównomierne
nadmuchanie, które dociska płodową
łydkę w prawym rogu do wewnętrznej
ściany miednicy. Powoduje to pęknięcie
miednicy na zewnątrz przy dolnym
więzadle łączącym.
2. Jałówka upada na jej prawe -tylne
kolano, ale ciągłe rozdęcie ostatecznie
powoduje, że zapadnie w drgawkach na
prawy bok.
3. Zwiększone ciśnienie powoduje, że
płodowa łydka w prawym rogu macicy
jałówki doświadcza stresu, wywołując
przedwczesne wytwarzanie nadmiaru
kortyzolu. To z kolei powoduje smarow-
anie, skurcze i rozciąganie więzadeł.
4. Ciało wilka w jej lewym rogu macicy
rośnie do tego stopnia, że jej macica nie
może go już pomieścić i rozdziera się na
górze, uwalniając płyn owodniowy do
jamy dolnej części tułowia jałówki.
Cztery żołądki i jelita jałówki są teraz
wciśnięte między prawą wewnętrzną
ścianę jej dolnego tułowia i ciałem wilka,
którego pazury przebijają je, uwalniając
częściowo strawioną trawę do jamy jej
dolnego tułowia, gdzie miesza się ona z
płynem owodniowym z jej rozdartej
macicę i krew z głównej tętnicy w
biodrze, która została przecięta przez
postrzępiony kawałek kości.
5. Głowa wilka zostaje przywaloną niezdar-
nie między dwoma żebrami jałówki, gdy
rzuca się w jej wnętrznościach, zgrzyta-
jąc zębami. Jego miotanie powoduje, że
jego ciało obraca się tak, że jego głowa
jest skierowana w stronę ogona jałówki.
6. Gdy wilk się obraca, jego tylne pazury
przebijają woreczek żółciowy jałówki i
prawy płat jej wątroby, uwalniając żółć i
więcej krwi.
7. Miotanie się jałówki miażdży płodową
łydkę w prawym rogu jej macicy między
wewnętrzną ścianą prawego dolnego
tułowia, które jest dociskane do ziemi, a
różnymi zmiażdżonymi narządami
wewnętrznymi i ciałem wilka.
8. Gdy ciało wilka zbliża się do głowy
jałówki, wypiera jej serce i płuca,
przyciskając je do jej wewnętrznej żeber.
9. Tylne łapy wilka zaczynają podnosić
przełyk jałówki, której szyja skręca się i
drży, gdy próbuje wypchnąć z siebie jego
ciało. Ciało wilka łamie kręg u podstawy
czaszki jałówki, gdy przechodzi przez jej
przełyk, w którym momencie ona
przestaje wokalizować.
10. Tylne łapy wilka wpychają się do pyska
jałówki, poza jej nagle bezwładny język, i
odsuwają jej szczękę od czaszki, gdy jego
ciało wyślizguje się z niej.
* Birth / Transformation score
translated into Polish by poet Mira
Rosenthal.
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Fig. 1
Inkjet print of map of a walking tour, 33” x 24”
* Developed in collaboration with local historian Radosław Józwiak and historical geographer Michał Gochna
of the Tadeusz Manteuel Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Fig. 2
Carabiner, GPS with waypoint data, hunting knife, strap
This is a heavily modied version of the route local students walk from the former rabbi of Węgrów’s home o of the town
square to the former Jewish cemetery in September every year. This route begins at the monastery in the Catholic quarter
and ends in the elds outside of town near the presumed location of a hiding palce constructed in a ditch by a group of Jews
during the Second World War.
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* Prints depicting wolf traps from the
archives of the Ethnographic
Museum in Kraków.
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4
Bronze bell, hand-braided rope,
weatherproofed steel, 3’ x 3’ x 9’
* Steel structure produced in collaboration
with fabricator Andrzej Chudzik of
Węgrów.
* Bronze bell produced in collaboration with
Antoni Kruszewski and the
Kruszewski Brothers’ Bell Foundry in
Węgrów.
Inspired by the designs of wolf traps from the
archives of the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków
wherein a pit was dug around a raised platform
and covered with foliage. Storks and osprey
would build nests on the platforms, attracting
predators who would fall into the pit and become
trapped.
This piece will be moved from point to point on
the route described on the previous page over the
course of six years.
The imagery on the bronze bell is divided into
three sections. At the top is a walk cycle for a
quadrupedal creature. In the center is the route
through Węgrów and the surrounding elds which
is repeated in the map on the previous page and
the data stored in a GPS at the exhibition. At the
bottom is a line from the jazz standard Blue
Moon, which reads “BLUE MOON NOW IM
NO LONGER ALONE WITHOUT A”. This
text is designed to be read in a looping manner.
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Fig. 5
Clay extracted from soil in Węgrów in brick mold, shovel with mud and epoxy resin, found wood form with
shellac and wood burning, 8’ x 5’ x 4’
Made up of wood from dead trees in Węgrów, the form in the foreground is intended to evoke the carcass of a heifer. Images
from the Węgrów tourism website are burnt and sanded into the surface of the wood along with a numerical system that
relates the 10 stages of the Transformation / Birth score to parts of the “body”
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Fig. 6
The snare that runs from the bell to the foot of the wood form is made with an obstetrical chain, designed to be looped
around the ankle of a fetal calf during a dicult birth.
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Fig. 7
Clay extracted from soil in Węgrów in brick mold, shovel with mud
and epoxy resin
The shovel in this image was used to dig a ditch in the elds outside of Węgrów
where the wood form from the previous slides is now buried. Muddy hand prints
from the hours of digging are preserved on the handle with an epoxy resin coating.
The handle is led down in the middle to prevent the shovel from being used
again.
The shovel is held in place by a brick mold lled with clay extracted from the
displaced mud.
Not pictured
Cover of Blue Moon (1934), 13
min 52 sec looping audio
* Audio produced with vocals recorded by
Nela Zawadzka of Węgrów and
Kamil Białaszek at the University of
Warsaw.
* TO LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT FROM THE INSTALLED SOUND PLEASE CLICK HERE *
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Fig. 8
Inkjet print of map, live simulation, approx. 240
hours
* Simulation produced in collaboration with Elan
Mehl, Zuzzanna Napora, Gabriela
Niechwiadowicz, and Paweł Zurakowski of the
Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics at
the University of Warsaw.
A wolf with a physically simulated skeletal and muscular
system learns to walk and then run while being pursued by
invisible agents through a 3D environment. The simulation is
driven by a custom neural network and ran remotely for the
duration of the exhibition at Jak Zapomnieć Gallery in
Kraków in the Summer of 2023.
Fig. 9
Still from documentation of live simulation, 18 min. 55 sec.
* Still from “An American Werewolf in London” (1981), Dir. John Landis
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LECTURES ON JUBILEE
OR
THE BREAKING OF THE TABLETS,
wherein the phrase is taken to refer to
three meanings:
FIRST, the periodical destruction of
records used to track debits and credits,
such that those kept in servitude as a
result of debts accrued are released
from their obligation to their creditors.
SECOND, Exodus 32:19, wherein
Moses destroys the rst set of tablets
inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
THIRD, using one’s teeth to split an
opioid in half, such that part can be
saved for later or a scarce amount can
be spread out over a longer period of
time.
* Blood, digital mind maps, graphite, saliva, sound, text,
video, wine
This ongoing body of work explores
physical and cognitive shifts that are
now eecting my practice following the
acute stages of my illness. It is dened
by an intellectual alienation from the
work I was making immediately before
becoming ill, approaching materials that
were left unnished without being able
to fully access or recall the thought
processes that motivated them to begin
with.
The work is concerned mainly with
nonutilitarian directionality; physical
and intellectual movement between
points that does not coalesce into legible
meaning or a perceptible event.
Formally it draws inspiration from
owcharts, public transit to and from
hospital visits, and academic lectures. It
applies these utilitarian formats to types
of speech (medicated, unconscious,
misheard) that easily slip into and yet
confound such formatting by using their
forward momentum to feed back into
themselves.
This work is deeply concerned with
study as a process distinct from
research, where the emphasis on
outcome is eschewed in favor of
continuing to live among a set of ideas.
The right leg of Michelangelo’s Moses (1515) from
the Tomb of Pope Julius II in the Basilica of San
Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.
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Hitler and Tony Blair
bombed China because
They thought they
weren’t humanists
America has Nikola
Tesla, BA, MA, PhD. He
invented electricity in
America.
A-America not A-
Africa. They’re not the
same place
- Overheard on London
bus
a dream:
3 dogs run over green
hills, evening, towards an
erupting volcano
I know we just met I
know it’s not my place,
but no one is there.
I’ll wash him, I’ll wash
him, but if we get o here
we’re stuck
it’s the best of me, I’m
pissed, my daddy’s in the
hospital and I can’t see
him
I really don’t care
that’s Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph, that’s Our Lord
get it blessed
sooner-or-later its going
to push me through
Whatsapp messages to
Johnny Depp:
i know you don’t love me
I can see youre online
the big question is that
can i put you down as my
Nex of kin
At least the days are
getting longer
I keep dreamingof my
momkeep dreaming of
my mom, I’m not over
itit keeps bbreaking by
heart and this bus is
going to make me late
Fig. 10
Stills from boomeroomerrangangg (2025),
4 min. 11 sec.
* TO WATCH “boomeroomerrangangg” CLICK HERE or USE THE UPLOADED LINK*
This piece is a recording of a video mixing
performance commissioned for a screening series in
London and Berlin. It works with asemic writing
from the Voynich Manuscript (1404*), and a diagram
of a water wheel from Paul Klee’s Pedagogical
Sketchbook (1925), a book that I lost when relocating
from London to the United States.
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By the Tongue, and also By the Teeth (2020 - 2021)
* 2 - channel video with synced sound, brick tongs, cedar wood, laser etched glass, maple wood, rawhide, plaster
replica of “Moses” by Michelangelo, steel
The golem is mud made animate by a kabbalah, a judeo-mystical
constellation of geometric relationships between fragments of
text, the God of the Torah’s language of creation. The golem is a
runaway energy made physical; a self-perpetuating ction,
radically separate from human intentionality, that continuously
shapes and reshapes reality. Mud to mud.
This piece restages a now destroyed sculpture my father
produced in 1989. The piece was comprised of two wooden
chairs positioned to face one another with a wooden board
running diagonally between them such sitting there would not be
able to see the person sitting across from them. This piece was
exploring the dynamics of hiding, inspired by his parents, who
died before I was born.
Here I recreate this dynamic but install two characters in
conversation into the scene. Inspired by the ritual creation and
destruction of the golem, a portrait of my grandfather and a
disembodied dog’s mouth speak past one another. This piece
explores the unconsciously formed ctions that make up our
sense of heritage, and the violence inherent in the transition from
living person to memory, and memory to myth.
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3
2
5
8
6
9
10
4
7
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Fig. 13
First installation view of the project. The armatures holding the monitors in place are meant to evoke the wooden chairs from
my father’s original sculpture. The monitors are positioned in such a way that they cannot both be viewed at the same time,
requiring the viewer to circle around the piece. This is meant to evoke the clockwise and counter-clockwise circling involved
in some descriptions of the ritual for bringing the golem to life.
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Fig. 14
Detail view of wet-molded rawhide with image carved into surface,
approx. 3’ x 7’
This rawhide comes from a cow who died of illness on a farm in Arizona. The hide
was soaked in a saltwater bath and stretched onto a frame. The dog sanded onto its
surface is “Barry”, a partially mythologized St. Bernard belonging to Ocer Kurt
Franz, one of the commanders of the Treblinka Extermination Camp where many
of the Jews of Węgrów died. Barry was used to terrorize inmates of the camp, and
was rumored to have been trained to target men’s genitals and women’s breasts
during attacks. The image is extracted from the Deviantart blog of “sulf_98”, who
is a Russian artist whose work illustrates Treblinka as a sentient being fueled by
corpses and sexual playground for its guards and commanders.
Once the hide had dried completely, it was soaked in a salt bath again and then
draped over one of the steel chair-like armatures where it re-hardened.
Archived image from “sulf_98”’s now deleted
Deviantart blog depicting her as a camp ocer
with Kurt Franz mutilating two corpses. (Image
archived in 2020)
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Fig. 15
Second installation view of the project. Here you can see the chair armatures dier from one another slightly to
accommodate the screens and characters they attached to. In this sense they evoke chairs, but are designed for the “bodies”
of the characters that occupy them. This view also shows the way that the screens are positioned in relation to one another,
forming a sort of diagonal between them.
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Fig. 16
Detail of laser-etched glass, maple wood, brick tongs, and cedar wood assemblage, approx. 4’ x 4’ x 10’’
This section of the installation is driven by the “head” or “heart” made of cedar wood at the far left of the image. This is the
only remaining piece of the original sculpture my father produced. The glass pieces in the enter are etched with the 10
“serot”, the building blocks of creation in Kaballah. The columns on either side can be lifted o the ground using the brick
tongs.
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Fig. 17
Stills from one channel of the 2-channel video
within the installation, 13 min., 5 sec.
These are stills from the smaller square screen in the
installation. In it, a clump of fur alternates between
obscuring and revealing a disembodied set of gums and
teeth. The mouth opens and spits out fragments of text
sourced from blogs, mistranslated tourism websites,
testimonies, and email conversations, before disappearing
again.
The text on the clump of fur is cursive Hebrew and reads
“at”, which means “you” or “thou”. This is a deliberate
misspelling of “met”, which means “death”. This is in
reference to the golem of Prague, which was said to have had
the word “emet” or “truth” inscribed on its forehead as part
of the process of bringing it to life. Erasing the rst letter of
“emet” transforms “truth” into “death”.
The audio is sourced from one of “sulf_98”’s videos showing
a clock with the face of a cat whose eyes alternate lighting up
to the rhytm of a metronome.
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Fig. 18
Stills from one channel of the 2-channel video within the installation, 13 min., 5 sec.
These are stills from the larger screen in the installation. In it, a 3D model of my grandfather moves through various poses
drawn from a manual on self defense against dog attacks. The body is only visible through the “motion blur map” a greyscale
map that is used in VFX to drive motion blur within a composited image.
The audio for this piece is of Polish voice actress reading Węgrów’s tourism website. The subtitles are script based on text
fragments that are synchronized with her speech.
* TO WATCH AN EXCERPT FROM THIS VIDEO CLICK HERE *
