Blood Scarf

photographs of speculative medical apparatus hand-knit into intravenous scarf from clear vinyl tubing
Artwork

Blood Scarf

2002
chromogenic prints
diptych, 24 H × 20 W in (60.96 H × 50.8 W cm) each

Blood Scarf depicts a scarf knit out of clear vinyl tubing. The speculative intravenous device emerging out of the user's hand fills the scarf with blood. The implied narrative is a paradoxical one in which the device keeps the user warm with their blood while at the same time draining their blood drop by drop.

Blood Scarf depicts a scarf knit out of clear vinyl tubing. The speculative intravenous device emerging out of the user's hand fills the scarf with blood. The implied narrative is a paradoxical one in which the device keeps the user warm with their blood while at the same time draining their blood drop by drop.

ArtXX: Radical Art Magazine

...Laura Splan transforms our human temporality into both comforting and unsettling art. It’s magical, heart-stopping...

Rhizome

...In Laura Splan’s mixed-media practice, the human body functions as both a physiological and cultural site: a conjunction of blood, bones, viruses and viscera masked by successive layers of social display...

Fiberarts Magazine

“...Laura Splan examines the cultural trends and events that underscore the manner in which the fragility of the human body is taken for granted...medical technology, bioterrorism, health epidemics, and the mutation of super-resistant microbes are all fodder for her art...”

Craft Magazine

...art that’s fascinating and sometimes shocking . . . a wide variety of highly imaginative work: psychiatric drugs represented in hooked-rug pillows, embroidery on what appears to be skin stretched on hoops, pillows made of meat...wildly creative in such a precise way...

Nicolaysen Art Museum
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
Richmond Art Center
Galerie SAW Gallery
Mills College Art Museum