With less than 48 hours to go before the main event, I figure it's time to get this party started! So, for those of you who've been wondering just what on Earth I'm trying to pull...
Committed! is a massive, decadent multimedia spectacle that combines elements of performance art, theatre, costuming, filmmaking, photography, arts & crafts (in the felt and hot glue sense, not the Gustav Stickley sense,) and painting, although not in the traditional sense. The project is divided into two phases:
Phase 1 – The Wedding
The first phase, The Wedding, will culminate in an actual wedding ceremony on Saturday, April 5th at 6:30 pm. (That's technically tomorrow!) I will be marrying myself. With nature and energy - and valued friends, lovers, and others, - as my witnesses, I will literally be making a commitment to love and cherish myself, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part, et cetera, for as long as I shall live. This process is partly for my own benefit, but it is also a comment on how audacious and challenging it is for a woman to value herself without a man by her side as proof.
Phase 2 – The Honeymoon
Although The Wedding is a more complicated process overall, I expect that The Honeymoon will be harder to execute. It starts at sundown on April 5th, which is why the wedding is at 6:30. The significance of this starting point is that sundown on April 5th is technically the beginning of the first day of Nisan, which is the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar. Nisan deals with themes of growth and rebirth, because it is the first month of spring; it is also about freedom from bondage because of Passover and the Jewish slaves’ Exodus out of Egypt. The Honeymoon will last for all 30 days of the month of Nisan, during which I’ll be wearing my dress and veil every waking hour of every day.
Besides showering and sleeping, there is one circumstance under which I won’t be wearing the dress: I’ll take it off to exercise. I can’t get the exercise I need while wearing the dress, and if I don’t get that exercise, the dress won’t even fit much longer, which would be a pretty efficient way to ruin the project.
I'm wearing the dress and veil to communicate my jaded opinion of marriage. The dress that I chose is huge and heavy, and it will get in my way every time I try to climb stairs, get in a car, or go to the bathroom. It will get caught on bushes and drag in the dust. I’m sure I’ll spill things on it, particularly when I’m cooking or eating. And it won’t take long before there are big sweat stains under both of the arms. Marriage is a full-time job, and more often than not it’s a great big mess; the dress is my "canvas," on which I intend to manifest that idea.
Friday, April 4
Mission Statement
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15 comments:
fuck yes. yes. goddamnit, yes. i love you. marry me? when you divorce yourself...?
Speechless!
Wow. This is really fascinating Irina :)
Can't wait to see more updates.
-Kayla
Uhm... you = total badass. Or masochist. Or visionary. Or something.
I wish I could be around to witness this firsthand. I also feel that perhaps, after so much formative and arguably deleterious effect on your psyche, the integrity of your experimental art is best served by my being far, far away. Go, Sis, go! <3
Do you have a registry?
I can't wait to give you away. KC is out buying the champagne right now.
I am so excited. You are amazing.
It is just past 6:30 here.
I am about to light a candle in your honor, and I am wearing my white wedding hat. Dad and I are so very, very proud of you. If you look carefully you will see our spirits hovering just above you, sending you love.
Kim and KC - thank you for standing in for us!
where are you and yourself registered?
Beautiful statement, lady. I wish you the best of luck, my dear.
- Christina
Hey mother of the bride: I thought about you a lot during the ceremony. She was GORGEOUS! And wise and brave. If you send me your e-mail I'll send you pics. krusso@csf.edu
KC and I were honored.
I think this whole thing a huge "look at me! look at me!" stunt that comes off more as a desperate need for attention than anything else.
I'd Like to see the above Anon's website. art is masturbatory, i believe that. I also think every time we walk out the door we are engaging in a dialogue about gender roles/ sex roles etc so why not be conscious of this discussion and think about ones choices as Irina is doing. there really isn't much else one can do.
Super cool Irina. I love how you noted that people tell you congrats while walking with a "guy on the couch"-dressed man, as if only one of you thought to dress for the occasion. Ironically, here in Argentina, wearing a wedding dress would be the only thing detering the chimuyas (common term for sexual harassers) from cat calling or following you. It's a sad part of the culture here.
Side Note to Noah: Can you please send me the def. for the word "deleterious"??? I need to incorporate that one into everyday life. I just wish I knew what it meant. BAD JOURNALIST :)
holy hell, i'm so glad you're writing again! and doing this!!
love,
me
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