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Gray Matters

A fusion of an elegantly asymmetrical 19th century bourgeois chaise lounge and Sigmund Freud's study chair, this conglomeration seeks to challenge and transcend historical understandings and stigmas surrounding females and mental illness. By combining the upright, firm, active and curious "position of power" rolling desk chair with the reclining, passive, helpless, soft and unmoving "subjects" couch, gender and doctor/patient roles are blurred.

This monochromatic, numbingly gray and metallic tableau contains a nervous density of design held in place by leather straps. The upholstered "Gray Matter" fabric is etched design in velvet depicting three basic types of neurons affected by depression: motor, sensory and interneuron, as well as the molecular structures of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood, sleep and memory. Also represented are antidepressants fluoxetine (Prozac); and dsvenlafaxine (Pistiq).

Exquisite suffering—audio
6:07   Shame and memory
1:36   Melancholy lullaby
Picture
Hankies

Melancholia tableau
Melancholia chair portraits

Melancholia tableau process
Melancholia information

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