Home/Body Imaging: Flatlining

It’s been a strange day. For the past few weeks I’ve been Abby Robinson, Photo Practitioner. But now the HomeBase IV project is over; all the wonderful artists and the staff have packed up and moved out. The site at 232 East Broadway is once again deserted and restored to its neglected, shabby state. The clinic looks even lonelier and eerier (if that’s possible) than when we all moved in.

My installation Home/Body Imaging was the closest thing I’ve had to a straight job in years. I actually put in 8-hour days at my mash up doctor’s office/photo studio—arriving at noon and leaving at 8pm. Or sometimes later because like physicians everywhere, I’d be constantly behind in my record keeping. In fact, I still am.

Despite the weird-assedness of the clinic, my office suite there felt truly homey—which was perfect for a project that investigated notions of home. Friends, other participating HomeBase artists and people I’d never met before would hang out and talk to each other in my waiting room (often about medical topics or about the ingredients in the Vietnamese candy I mixed in with the Reese peanut butter cups, Starbursts, Tootsie Rolls and Three Musketeers. The usual response after someone bit into one was “yuck” and then insist that others waiting to see me had to try one. Who knew tamarind was such an icebreaker?). It was interesting to schmooze. I liked sitting and working in my office. And I loved shooting photographs in my studio. It was like winning the art world/art work trifecta.

So it’s understandable that I miss my space, my fellow artists, and my “patients”. Working in my actual home is taking a wee bit of readjusting even though the components of Home/Body Imaging are all over my living room and workroom floors. Sadly they’re not consoling in a horizontal layout. In fact you’d need a lot of imagination to turn what could now only be called a mess back into an art piece.

People have called to tell me how much they enjoyed their therapeutic visits and that they’ve hung their Home/Body images somewhere in their houses. I’m delighted that the VIP body parts badges have found good homes.

Meanwhile I’m putting all the pictures in some sort of order. When that’s done, I’ll put some up. I’ll also be looking for other places to do more photo examinations. It’s an idea that was too much fun to let die.