Akedah
Albert J. Winn
American, 1947-2014
1995
Gelatin silver print
In the artist’s own words: “Every month, because of my illness, I need to undergo a blood test. During the process, a tourniquet is bound tightly about my upper arm. At times when I’ve been on a study protocol for an experimental medicine, I’ve had my blood drawn every day. Having my blood drawn has become a ritual in what sometimes seems is a new religious practice, an AIDS ritual.
“Over time, I’ve transformed this ritual in relation to my Judaism. I wonder if like Isaac, I am being sacrificed. This time to science. I pray that an angel will intercede and spare my life. When my arm is bound with a tourniquet and the veins bulge, I am reminded that I am bound to my illness. I look at the rubber strap and see tefillin. Sometimes the impression of the leather straps from the tefillin are still visible on my skin by the time the tourniquet is wrapped around my arm. The binding of the tefillin is a reminder of being bound to my heritage. The straps also make my veins bulge. Except for the needle stick the binding feels the same.”
Quote found here:
Exhibition dates: 3rd October 2015 – 10th January 2016 This is the biggest exhibition on art relating to HIV/AIDS since the seminal ex
[id: black and white photograph of a light skinned chest and left arm. The arm is wrapped in Tefillin, and a small bandage is visible with a bloodstain on the inner arm.]
