Jennifer Wen Ma

Cleansing Walk

Various locations in New York City and Washington DC

2003-2005

A series of Cleansing Walks at various sites were performed with a white dress that featured a 20-meter long train. Like a one-person funerary procession, the walks were quiet demonstrations of loss and grief, and at the same time, acting as a personal ritualistic cleansing and purging. On another level, the walks were offerings, much in the spirit of Lady Godiva, to clean and purify the city, community, people and the immediate grounds that the dress touched.