“Cleansing Bath at Forres” was an intimate performance of a ritual bath in which I, with the help of the audience, released the past in order to step into a new era in my life. The performance included the construction of the outdoor bathing site from an old bath tub, logs from the property, and shells and rocks from the North Sea. The bath itself was an herbal bath comprised of herbs and plants from the property, and steeped in rain water collected on site in the days preceding the performance.
Before the actual bathing ceremony, I read to the audience uncensored entries from a journal detailing a particularly difficult time in my marriage and career. Along with the readings, I told stories that gave context to the events of the past that I was releasing. I used pages from the journal to start a fire that was used to heat the bath water. Over the course of the pre-bath “confessional” the entire journal was added to the fire. Once the bath was completely heated, the audience washed me in preparation for the bath. I then told the audience everything I wished to release, as well as everything I feared in doing this performance. The audience then held the rocks from the North Sea, and imbued them with thoughts, concerns, etc. that they wanted to release, before dropping them in the bathtub. I then entered the tub, and to the sound of a church bell I had recorded in Brussels weeks earlier, I soaked as the audience took turns pouring the herbal waters over my head. After the bells had concluded, I drained the waters, and stood to air dry in the Scottish sun. Following the performance, I deconstructed the ceremonial site, leaving only the seashells behind, and I returned the rocks to the North Sea.
The performance addressed the problem of intimacy between performer and audience, including the uncensored revelations on the journal, as well as the physical intimacy of being bathed by/bathing a stranger. In a time when social media fosters superficial intimacy, this performance generated an authentically intimate experience between the spectator and performer.
