An exploration of Life Art
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In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art
Created by Jonathan Jennings Harris
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    Ritual 13
    A ritual to shatter and burn the reflections of nine outdated identities
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    View film (5:53)
    “Find something you want to break because you could use the pieces to make something else, and go break it. Use a hammer.”
    — A friend in 2007

    Many indigenous cultures mark the transition from youth to adulthood by orchestrating initiation rituals where the younger self is ritually killed or destroyed, so that a new and larger self can emerge. These powerful ceremonies often involve psychoactive plants, fasts from food and water, solitary time in the wilderness, physical scarification, and other demanding ordeals.

    In our modern American culture, we lack definitive rituals to mark the transition from youth to adulthood, relying instead on the watered-down “sweet sixteen,” prom, bar mitzvah, driver’s license, army draft, and the buying of booze.

    • The Hero with a Thousand Faces — 1949

    Without a clear transition between youth and adulthood, adolescent behavior can easily linger on indefinitely — as evidenced by our cultural obsession with fame, sex, money, material acquisition, and other essentially adolescent pursuits.

    When asked in our culture “who are you?” it is customary to rattle off a chronological list of accomplishments — habitually reciting the all-too-familiar life story that keeps our sense of self comfortably (if speciously) intact.

    This egoic sense of self is precisely what is targeted by traditional rites of passage, so that participants are forced to go beyond themselves to connect with something universal. As mythologist Joseph Campbell explains:

    The tribal ceremonies of birth, initiation, marriage, burial, installation, and so forth, serve to translate the individual’s life-crises and life-deeds into classic, impersonal forms. They disclose him to himself, not as this personality or that, but as the warrior, the bride, the widow, the priest, the chieftain; at the same time rehearsing for the rest of the community the old lesson of the archetypal stages.

    In this ritual, I use framing lumber to build a large wooden easel. Late one night, I place it at the edge of the field outside the High Acres Farm barn, lit by twin pairs of halogen work lights, with nine body-length mirrors waiting nearby.

    I choose nine different outfits that represent nine distinct identities that defined me to myself and to others over the years.

    • The Baseball Card Collector
    • The Comic Book Lover
    • The Porn Concealer
    • The Deerfield Boy
    • The Water Polo Star
    • The Princeton Man
    • The Young Bachelor
    • The Ted Speaker
    • The Empty Vessel

    One at a time, I put these outfits on, approach the mirror, and use my grandfather’s handheld hammer to smash its reflection, before removing the outfit and discarding its constituent elements atop the growing heap.

    Breaking with the past

    Once all nine mirrors have been shattered, I light a butane torch with matches and set the pile alight. I sit by the fire as the broken mirrors melt and morph within the flames, the identities mingling together in sparks.

    Up in sparks
    • A fragment
    Performed in 2015
    View film (5:53)
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    • Use a Hammer
      On escaping your story
      Published Apr 18, 2022

    A set of lines flank an upside-down “T” — like mirrors around a hammer, forming a new rectangular shape from the disparate parts.

    • Blue Torch
      In 2 rituals
    • Camera Kit 1
      In 21 rituals
    • Camera Kit 2
      In 2 rituals
    • Fire
      In 9 rituals
    • Fired Mirror
      In 3 rituals
    • Glass Sheets
      In 22 rituals
    • Glass Stand
      In 22 rituals
    • Halogen Light
      In 3 rituals
    • Steel Hammer
      In 3 rituals
    • White Clothes
      In 14 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
    • Use a Hammer
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      Download all stills from “Use a Hammer” (11 MB)

    • Created by
      Jonathan Jennings Harris
    • Edited with
      Scott Thrift
    • Original music by
      Julio Monterrey
    • Filmed at
      High Acres Farm
      Next
      • Essay 14
        Hall of Mirrors
        A ritual to arrange a set of broken fired mirrors into a rectangular mosaic
      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