Islands of Blood and Longing, 2010
Blood on Fabriano Paper
72.5 x 52 cm unframed

Tabitha Moses is an artist, educator, designer, costumier and performer. Her practice is rooted in the meanings and possibilities of materials. Moses is interested in the transformation of discarded or overlooked subjects and matter into eloquent objects that speak of the human experience. The work, at once seductive and unsettling, inhabits a place at which beauty and horror meet.

Islands of Blood and Longing was made in the weeks following the loss of a much-wanted pregnancy. Constructing this map was, for Moses, a way to salvage grace and meaning from an incomprehensible occurrence. The stains of lost blood became islands that, in turn, formed a chart to help her find her way. The phases of the moon counted the days while the compass brought order and direction.