I ATE YOUR TRAUMA
I ate your trauma 2021 - M-Deimling_S_21
I ate your trauma 2021 - M-Deimling_S_24

„I ate your trauma.” by Monika Deimling

CONCEPT TEXT:

“Herbivore – an animal that eats only plants.

Carnivore – an animal that eats only meat.

Traumivore – an animal that eats trauma from time to time.

Have you ever experienced that riding a horse can set aside your worries? Give you strength? Build your confidence? Give you a sense of security? All those things that may have been lost because of experiencing a traumatic event. Do you know the moment when your dog gets stressed because of an argument? Do you remember your cat coming to sit on your lap because you were feeling down?

Trauma is edible. It may not taste as good as chocolate, but it can trigger a similar sense of guilt about gaining weight. Weight that is too heavy for the human body. It is advised to share your chocolate, just as it is good to share your trauma.  Animals are one of those creatures that can consume trauma. A mixture of emotions, images, distorted memories, swallowed almost whole.

I am serving you this full meal that travels through your body’s souvenirs, in other words, recollections. This is no ordinary dish. You may end up with nausea or diarrhea. You may become a Traumivore.”

*Please, note: Each doll and plush toy was found or bought in the second-hand store and had a previous owner(s), symbolising the past experiences and stories these items carry with them.

____________________________

The project “I ate your trauma” was created for the exhibition as part of “Iets Met Dieren” in Nijmegen (NL) at EXTRAPOOL, organised by Lilia Scheerder. You can see some images below. I presented 5 objects and a lottery box where you could find scratch cards with trauma as a prize. In an act of small celebration, the winners could throw confetti over themselves. The exhibition concluded with a stencil-printed zine “Little Room x Iets Met Dieren” published by Knust/Extrapool.

about Iets Met Dieren:

“The visual and performance art series Iets Met Dieren (something with animals) explores the different aspects of the relations between human and non-human animals. Humans are primates, but living in a modern society makes us forget about the genetic code that has been passed on for millions of years. What do we have in common, and wherein lies the insurmountable difference? Each edition was centered around a mathematical symbol: ± (perception of animals), = (just as; equivalence), U (unification) and ∞ (infinity; empathy between species).”

LITTLE ROOM  X IETS MET DIEREN

‘Little Room x Iets Met Dieren’

printed and published by Knust/Extrapool,
January 2022

– 14 x 20 cm
– 16 pages
– stencilprinted (Riso) multiple colors
– pamphlet stitch
– the booklet can be placed as a foldable house, each side displaying an angle of a little room

participating artists: Monika Deimling,Viviana Druga, Anna Hijmans, Constance Hinfray, Radina Kordova, Emma Levie, Anna de Vriend

Little Room gives another shape to a publication; instead of a standard book layout, it also takes the shape of a foldable house.
This first edition of Little Room is collaboration together with Iets Met Dieren.
The publication gives context to the themes we touched upon in the series Iets Met Dieren and translates the work of the contributing artists to the stencilprinting technique. Included is a hybrid appendix in which text and sound also returns on this online imagemap of Iets Met Dieren,

book4- Iets Met Dieren X Little Room - Extrapool
LITTLE ROOM  X IETS MET DIEREN

Images from the exhibition as part of “Iets Met Dieren” in Nijmegen (NL) at EXTRAPOOL.

I are your trauma 2021 - exhibition-S-07
I are your trauma 2021 - exhibition-S-06
I ate your trauma 2021 - exhibition-S-12
I ate your trauma 2021 - exhibition-S-13
I ate your trauma 2021 - exhibition-S-02
I ate your trauma 2021 - exhibition-S-03