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RED TIDE
Tamara Wyndham
July 22, 1989
Kate Millett Art Colony,
Poughkeepsie, New York
The stage set was entirely
white: white walls, a white
sheet of paper
on the wall, a small table with
a white tablecloth. On the table
was a white
teapot and a white carton of
white eggs, a metal egg beater
and a clear
glass bowl. I was dressed in a
white T shirt and white
drawstring pants.
I had memorized the following
text, which is a combination of
a childhood
memory and a dream. As I spoke
it, I made a charcoal drawing on
the paper
of what I was speaking about,
starting with the ocean, then
the clouds,
the rain, the elephant, the
golden disks and the hibiscus.
I performed this work on the
heavy day of my period. I wore
no underwear
and no tampon nor napkin, so
that I bled onto my pants as I
performed.
When I finished speaking the
text, I went outside and quickly
took
off my clothes, then re-entered
naked, with my internal organs
painted on
the front of my torso. Without
speaking, I took an egg from the
carton and
broke it into the bowl. Inside
the eggshell was not egg, but my
own menstrual
blood. From the teapot I poured
red hibiscus tea into the bowl
with the
blood. I whisked it together,
and then drank it.
TEXT:
On the coast of California where
I grew up, one day when I was a
girl,
the ocean turned red. It was a
dark brownish red, the color of
old blood.
A foul fish smell filled the air,
for thousands of dead fish had
washed
ashore the beaches.
A shift in the climate had caused
the temperature of the ocean to
warm.
In this warm water, billions of
phytoplankton, tiny organisms
halfway between
plant and animal, reproduce
rapidly. They crowd toward the
surface to receive
sunlight, and the density of their
great numbers discolors the water.
My
mother told me that they killed
the fish by using up all of the
oxygen in
the water; but actually they
produce one of the most toxic
poisons known.
My mother was curious and took me
to the beach to look at the dead
fish
and the red water. I was
fascinated. But she would not let
me play in the
water nor touch the fish.
The warm ocean water evaporates,
and condenses high in the air to
form
cumulus clouds. The cumulus build
up rapidly into tall towers called
castelllanus.
The clouds become saturated, and a
heavy rain falls and clears the
air of
the dead fish smell.
The tide recedes, and in the
distance, a gigantic elephant
rises from
the ocean. She is huge and
magnificent, and is an omen of
great changes
in the world, and of danger. She
moves slowly through the water
toward the
shore and into the town,lifting
her great feet gently as she walks
down
the street past the house where I
lived. She walks calmly and
magnificently,
causing no harm. The people keep
at a distance and watch
cautiously.
Now, two great golden disks, of
thirty feet diameter, representing
the
planets Jupiter and Saturn, roll
down the street. One from West to
East,
the other from East to West. They
cross paths right in front of
where I
am standing, in front of my house.
This signifies that the sea will
flood
the land.
At this point, it is revealed to
me that a certain flower, a red
hibiscus
flower, will be of great help and
importance in the coming years.
This flower
is known in many parts of the
world, and a sharp red tea is made
from its
petals.
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