In Comforts for the Spoiled Flesh, a large canvas tapestry and an amorphous, fleshy candle holder act as commonplace objects found in the home, meant to invoke feelings of comfort and being in one’s bedroom. At the same time, these objects highlight the ever-present process of organic bodily decay. 

The candle holder is a vessel of bleeding, infected flesh, while the tapestry contains patchwork squares depicting squashed insects and dead skin. Despite the grotesqueness of these textures and depictions, each object inhabits a format which maintains a certain familiarity and delicateness. 

It is in these formats that the objects ask us to consider how we can bring honor and comfort to our constantly spoiling flesh, and how we can find beauty and softness in the everyday despite the hardness and decay that permeates our world and selves. 

The tapestry also depicts an original poem, hand-painted on the fabric. Poetry is yet another example of a way to cope and find comfort in the act of creation. The text is as follows: 

THE SPOILS 

the spoils of an aching and dredging 

the spoils of a wound well-stitched 

the spoils of a fingernail dug deep 

into a leaking, fleshy windowpane;

a corridor of veins, 

an ever-present itch. 

creeping and clotting, 

burning and bleeding, 

mourning and molding, 

a body well-spent; 

does it know what it wants

does it know what it needs

does it know

how to patch the cracks 

and the leaks

to keep close the things 

that prevent the rotting of its teeth? 

to love and be loved, 

a gleaming heart covered in rust, 

through a wrought iron gate 

crumbling and creaking

lies the rotted fruit 

still sweetly robust.