KEEPING ON (breathing), 2023
New College of Florida, Sarasota
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KEEPING ON (breathing) is a site-specific, guerilla, sculptural activation in protest of the hostile right-wing takeover of New College of Florida in Winter 2023 by Florida Governor and fascist, Ron DeSantis.
KO(b) is an act of bikkur cholim, a space for the grieving community to grieve. the sculpture at the center of this project is an avatar for the dying institution, the near-living thing, receiving necessary assistance to breathe, its family unsure of what the future holds.
ancient Judaism calls a person in the throes of the end of life—that liminal state of here/not-here—a goses. it is said to be a deed of paramount importance to go and visit with a goses (goh-séss), to hold space with them, to treat them as a full person, to not speak as if they’re gone, but simply to reflect with them and with one another, sharing space, and breath, and time together.
you do not pray over a goses. you do not close their eyes. you just hold them close as they pass, as all things do.
on grief and mourning, anita diamant writes that:
“in the end, being present is both the only thing and the greatest thing we have to give one another.”
