The Monkfish Mold

2019-2020 | Monkfish, clay, silicone

This was a spur-of-the-moment undertaking that confused the grocery store fishmonger and scared whoever opened the student freezer.

The monkfish head was given to me for free as a piece of undesirable meat waste, which I propped open and froze in place with the help of visiting professor Lauren Schaffer (I cannot thank her enough for this). The ends of the fish were sealed, and a silicone mold made of its internal state. The fish began to decay during this multi-day underating, which became a sort of performance piece in itself.

I learned so much about the intricacies of this specimen during the mold-making process: its particular warts, the pattern of its (sharp) teeth, its fleshy gills. The silicone that remains - the folded column of the spharynx - remains an oddly intimate portrait of the undesirable.