Homemade Still, Performance, 2022, Widow Jane Mine

This site-reactive work was created for An/Aesthetics, at the Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, NY. I constructed a small, wood-fired still, similar to what would have likely been used in the 1800s by miners to distill spirits. Instead of creating that self-medicating substance, during the show opening I attempted to distill essential oils and hydrosol from local medicinal plants, creating a healthier form of treatment, while evoking the rural practice of "making do." Through performing this action at the opening of the show, I examined the labor-intensive processes involved (gathering wood, drawing up water from the mine, tending the fire) in producing this medicine.