Sad Sack, 2015, Found clothing, satin, yarn, fabric remnants, thread, nylons, polyester fiber fill, carpet padding; installation, 6 x 4 feet; performance, two hours. Photo: Natalie Fleming.

 

How does one visualize an illness that does not readily and plainly mark the body as ill? Ann Moody’s performance and installation Sad Sack intervenes in this paradox. Moody has dealt with depression and anxiety throughout her life, and she has described her experience as “an existence consisting of spurts of productivity and passion regularly interrupted by a lack of desire to do anything of use or import.” Sad Sack brings her invisible experience of depression and anxiety among others—the viewers—into sharp focus. The tendrils that cover her face seem to suffocate, and we can feel, perhaps for the first time, her psychic claustrophobia with her. Thus, Moody creates a monument to invisible illnesses where we have partial access to an experience with an invisibly ill body.

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Ann Moody (b.1989) received her BFA in 2012 from the University at Montevallo (concentration: printmaking) and her MFA in 2017 from the University at Buffalo. Moody’s practice combines fine art and craft techniques with found objects and personal effects to probe notions of gender, memory, identity, consumption, and waste. Her most recent solo show at Argus Gallery was funded by the Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art (BICA) microgrant. Moody has participated in group shows at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Collar Works, The Overlook Place, and Little Berlin, among others.