This performance piece converses with Monet's painting, La Japonaise, depicting Camille posing in a Uchikake Kimono. To permanently document the controversy around Monet's painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, over July 2015, a fellow artist, Azita Moradkhani, paints Jeremy's body in Camille's Uchikake- appearing almost like tattoos down his right side. After 6 hours of painting the body, Jeremy stands in a antique wash basin and attempts to scratch, peel, and rub away the kimono with hot sake. The remaining marks pose the question, can we move beyond exoticism in American contemporary culture ?
Azita Moradkhani's website: http://www.azimore.com/
Photo documentation: Nickolas Procopi