An exploration of Life Art
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In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art
Created by Jonathan Jennings Harris
    Ritual 14
    A ritual to arrange a set of broken fired mirrors into a rectangular mosaic
    • Essay
    • Reflection
    • Pictogram
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    View film (5:25)
    “You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all you have been and done, you are fierce with reality.”
    — Florida Scott-Maxwell

    The next morning, the ritual fire from Use a Hammer is a pile of ash and melted mirrors. The weather has shifted; the wind has picked up; summer is ending. Using a steel bucket and a larger steel pail, I gather up every piece of melted mirror from the dewy grass.

    Puzzle pieces

    That evening, I hoist the pail of collected broken glass into the hayloft of the old High Acres Farm barn, where I find a collection of small votive candles arranged into a “golden rectangle,“ twenty-seven feet long.

    Within the candle perimeter, there is a piece of red yarn stretched between four steel nails, drawing out a smaller rectangular space on the floor, itself a golden rectangle as well. The halogen work lights from the night before are watching.

    New assignment

    I put on the pair of white gloves from Phase Change and use a box of matches to light the set of candles. With great care, I place each piece of broken fired mirror within the bounds of the red yarn, forming a fractured organic mosaic, whose structure comes into being with the addition of each new piece of glass.

    New arrangement

    This mosaic of mirrors “transcends and includes” all of the former identities. It doesn’t reject or repress them, but integrates them into a new and larger wholeness that is no longer constrained by the old definitions.

    • New order

    I work all night until dawn. As the lights go dark, the camera glides over the space as I lay on the floor, with the completed mosaic emerging from my head like some kind of thought bubble from a childhood cartoon — a new wholeness constructed from all of the fragments.

    • In Fragments

    In the days that followed, I developed a strange inflammation of my tongue, lips, and mouth, with my taste buds painfully swollen. Perhaps it was the dust from the barn, or perhaps the many outdated identities finally leaving my body.

    I didn’t know it at the time, but this mosaic of mirrors would end up remaining in that very place for the next six years — witnessing all the many changes that were about to unfold on the land. In this way, the broken mirrors were to become like batteries, absorbing the energy of the ritual work that was yet to come.

    Performed in 2015
    View film (5:25)
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    • Hall of Mirrors
      On working with symbols
      Published Apr 25, 2022

    A set of triangles converge to form a rectangular shape — revealing a new figure in the space within.

    • Camera Kit 1
      In 21 rituals
    • Camera Kit 3
      In 3 rituals
    • Fired Mirror
      In 3 rituals
    • Glass Candles
      In 2 rituals
    • Glass Sheets
      In 22 rituals
    • Glass Stand
      In 22 rituals
    • Halogen Light
      In 3 rituals
    • Red Thread
      In 3 rituals
    • Steel Bucket
      In 5 rituals
    • Steel Pail
      In 5 rituals
    • White Clothes
      In 14 rituals
    • White Gloves
      In 3 rituals
    • White Paint Pen
      In 22 rituals
    • Wood Matches
      In 5 rituals
    • Jonathan Jennings Harris
      In 23 rituals
    • High Acres Farm
      In 24 rituals
    • The Barn
      In 6 rituals
    • Hall of Mirrors
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      Download all stills from “Hall of Mirrors” (15 MB)

    • Created by
      Jonathan Jennings Harris
    • Edited with
      Scott Thrift
    • Original music by
      Julio Monterrey
    • Filmed at
      High Acres Farm
      • Drone photography
        • Ian Ray
    Next
    • Essay 15
      Give Up the Ghost
      A ritual to banish the spectre of my grandfather’s alcoholism
    In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art.
    • Intro
    • FAQ
    • Genealogy
    • Images
    • Music
    • Credits
    • Contact
    In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art
    Created by Jonathan Jennings Harris