Cleanliness is Goodliness is an installation of hand-engraved soaps, each representing one person with his name and profession. 21 of them engraved with my name, their weight totalling that of the Artist's body fat. This solo exhibtion was curated by Asya Fillipovna, Director, Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) Fabrika.
The Moscow installation of the project was performative, with participant's body fat being measured by the artist using a medical device and a corresponding weight of soap bars being hand-engraved with their name on the spot. Each participant was allowed to take a soap bar home, a gentle reminder of the fragility of life at times of conflict.
"In Cleanliness is Goodliness my name— Thyrza Nichols Goodeve —is a bar of soap. When I see this there is a feeling I attach to this. It is a queasy sensation deep in the area of my stomach. It causes me to have associations that are personal, revolting, disgusting, angry. I do not feel proud. But then I am also honored (that she put me on a bar of soap) but by saying this I feel ridiculous. But let’s do away with writing for now. (…) Let’s take away discussions that sooth or make sense."(Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, PhD, Artforum art critic, New York, NY)
"She does not redeem or moralize The Holocaust but sets out to produce the very affect that such experience of atrocity produces, and in doing this her art does not sooth, but bites." (Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, PhD, Artforum art critic, New York, NY)