Starting Soap Carving & Janine Antoni Response

This may be a worthless observation but I was not expecting the soap I needed to be the hosh-posh luxury soaps that get their own cart set aside from the regular bathroom items. This stuff is Italian made, imported, and you can smell the fragrances at the door of the art building before you even reach the classroom.

For Janine Antoni, my first reaction was to her explanation of the rope, which was braided with various fabrics from meaningful people and occasions of her life. "A rope is an umbilical cord," she said, which connects us not just to our mothers, or our creation, but it is a red string of fate binding our friendships, spouses, strangers, and colleagues, which she then reveals to us through her installation. I understand her reasoning for her performance pieces and like how she explains that with her body, she is indirectly calling upon the viewer's body; that in turn tricks the viewer into feeling as she feels. She is making art through materials, sight, and muscle memory, in a way.

Regarding the chocolate and soap piece, initially I thought it was just a clever gimmick and then I thought about it and realized I did not understand it. Then she commented on how soap is usually made of lard, so "washing the body with the body" was indeed a strange irony. I appreciate the way she thinks and find myself doubting what she's doing until I hear her explain it, and then I'm like, "Oh, of course." That has not happened too often with me and modern art.