THE CICADA

In 1993, I made 6 shirts. Then, I took them to the cleaners and asked to have them laundered and boxed . I put the box in the back of my closet. I would take it out on occasion to look at look at it, knowing that there were these colorful shirts  inside the simple white box. When I showed the box to people, I would tell them that they would just have to believe me, that there were 6 brightly colored shirts inside. I never opened the box until February, 2007. The film is a document of the opening of the box. I put the shirts back in the box, and that's the last time I saw them. I sent the box to a friend and asked her to do the same with the shirts... She mentioned that she was going to sew little objects into the shirts before taking them to the cleaners. I said that it was wonderful; besides, it is no longer my piece.....  The piece reminded me of The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and the theory of Schroeder's Cat. Hiding the shirts even further in the back of the closet for 13 years reminder me of the life cycle of Cicada.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada#Life_cycle