For this performance, I was inspired by two things: immersion baptisms and the cyanotype process. To me, cyanotypes are inherently baptismal, as both rely on a ritual of cleansing water; being submerged underwater and resurfacing transformed in some way.
On the day of the performance, I had the participants bring symbolic objects to be pressed onto the light sensitive material of my baptism gown. The objects were selected with care; Anointing oil from Jerusalem made from my mother’s favorite flower, a book my dad would read to me and my brother as babies and a branch from the mulberry tree back home that was just starting to bloom with unripened berries. My brother chose a necklace belonging to my mom from when we lived in Africa and held it around my neck. Holding steady to my arm and shoulder my lover imprinted her hands. In the middle of my abdomen, I pressed a photograph of myself in the arms of the minister who had baptized me 21 years ago, on May 7th, 2000.
After the gown had been exposed, I walked into the river. My parents, my brother, and my girlfriend looked on as I lay in the rushing water and let the silt and debris of the river wash over me and develop my gown, the landscape of the Christian south aiding in this performance of washing over and washing away.
