Beneath the Skin (2014)

Click for Review by Allison Galgiani

Performance with Jacky O’Shaughnessy at Outlet in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York.

At the time, Jacky O'Shaughnessy was known for her role as American Apparel's controversial, lead lingerie model. She was asked to perform in this exhibition not only for her striking beauty, but because she was pushing age boundaries in her career. She walked through the crowd and stood upon a rotating pedestal in a small room adjacent to the main gallery for three hours. When Jacky's knees began to tremble, audience members shed tears. Her visible struggle spoke to the idea of getting trapped within a mind set of beauty and perfection tied to youth. Not only was the performance a test of her physical endurance, it represented the complex pressures set upon women in today's society. In the main gallery, an installation of red dresses in garment bags, all made from skin-like material, suspended from meat hooks. Jacky wore a dress constructed of the same material to speak to an additional level of discomfort in the modern world, tied to our disassociated connection to nature and the rhythms of Earth.