Play Dead, 2013

Digital video, 5:41

In the fall of 2012 my dog had a sudden gastric illness, he lost tons of blood all over the floor, all over the house. I made this work a few months later without really putting the two experiences together until a friend said - wait, didn’t that actually happen to your dog? I am interested in how we play with the macab - does it help us cope with real trauma? How do cartoon or blatantly fake portrayals of violence numb or intensify feelings of fear and powerlessness? My dog and I played the game Play Dead, atop a stage of fake blood.