Kayla Tange
Confession Box
2015
Acrylic, paper, ink, dry erase marker
In Confession Box (2015-2016) I wear a white dress and white blindfold and meditate in the middle of a Plexiglas box. Recent iterations emphasize self-imprisonment by beginning with my hands cuffed. Participants write their confessions, fold the notes, and surrender them to the box through a slit. After meditating, I transcribe the messages on the inside wall of the box. Gradually, the Plexiglas confession box that first served as my transparent protection or barrier becomes a cage of verbal judgment. Yet, as I encase myself in their words, participants realize the potentially unifying nature of self-imposed guilt when rendered visible. By bearing their shame, anonymously and visually, I provide a space for participants to purge internal strife through the identification with those around them equally affected by social expectation and norm.
Originally performed at Rhabbitat Gallery in Los Angeles on February 11, 2015, this interactive experience exploring secrets and lies is intended to be repeated, but also re-envisioned around other social and political themes.
Photography - John Heinsen
Box contruction - Nico Milican and Cody Barajas