Flow ©2005

Flow is an allegory for the act of creating, or bringing forth, from the self. Filmed during the artist’s pregnancy, this nine-minute piece (one minute per month) combines the sculpture of a miniature bathtub with video projection. In the installation, the projected image of water fills the miniature tub into which a woman climbs, crossing the static bounds of space and object. As the woman bathes, one begins to notice a subtle change to her body: with her swaying motions in the water, her belly begins to swell in apparent pregnancy. Flow is edited in a manner so that the bathing appears to be continual, with a building apex as the woman approaches full-term pregnancy.

Throughout history, water has been a metaphor for fertility; water has figured in a number of Jenkins’ artworks, as a metaphor for the subconscious, as well as for its ritual aspects. Flow is a companion work to Jenkins’ 1996 work, Ebb, which is also a projection into a miniature tub.

Flow was supported with a Finishing Fund Grant from the Experimental Television Center, NY.

--Installation components: video projection on miniature ceramic tub and tiled pedestal, audio; tub sculpture dimensions: 9h x 24w x 12.5d”; original running time: 9 minutes 31 seconds