Consumed
Durational performance
Crypt, National Cathedral, Washington, DC
2023

Consumed is a performance exploring medieval reading practices and embodied contemplation. In a cathedral crypt I read aloud chapters from Revelations of Divine Love. Combining actions from manuscript making with devotional gestures, I copied sections of this visionary text onto paper and dusted letters with gold leaf powder. Smoothing them with a bone folder, I smelled, licked, chewed, and ate the words for spiritual nourishment.

This performance, part of the Anchorhold project, was inspired by Julian of Norwich (1343 - after 1416), medieval mystic and Western Christian theologian. She lived in a cell for twenty years and wrote the earliest surviving English language text by a woman. The Stowe Manuscript image is in the British Library.