Agnes Questionmark’s ‘Slaughtering Archival Machine (SAM)’: Exploring the Multitudes within Surgery
Trans woman and interspecies artist Agnes Questionmark is known for probing into her identity through a post-human lens. This concept is considered the philosophical identity of the 21st century, one that calls for the human species to exist as a part of nature. Questionmark affirms this by being an interspecies artist, a believer that the human species is merely a single part of the larger planetary ecology, a species whose value is considered equal to any other. This post-human consciousness has also driven Questionmark to imagine evolutions of the human species, albeit ones that are better aligned to the environment.
Questionmark’s most recent installation piece, Slaughtering Archival Machine (SAM), recreates an operating theatre to highlight the role that medical operations play in the evolution of the human species. The depicted room has a central operation table on which an operated silicon body lies. Around the centrepiece are metal C-stands and fixtures from which six televisions hang. They give audiences a show of different parts of the body’s operation—starting from the introduction of anesthesia to the cutting of flesh and more.
In an Instagram post, Questionmark shared that SAM is her reflection on how today, operation rooms are artificial gestational wombs. One can alter their biological morphology and even fuse with machines in this place. However, surgical operations leave behind an ambivalent aftertaste for those who have experienced it. For trans folks like Questionmark, undergoing surgery can mean liberation from pain and a path toward a more authentic bodily existence. On the other hand, it can also be a painful and frightening journey. One that will require additional hours spent debilitated in bed, trying to recover while also managing pain levels. As an art piece, SAM probes into these different perspectives that exist around surgical procedures.
As the title suggests, SAM is an archive providing audiences with a wide range of perspectives. A collection of worldviews that will hopefully lead down a path to more ethical surgical procedures. Here, SAM becomes a tool to advocate for medical surgery, which takes care of both a person’s physical health and psychological health, reflecting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Reduced Inequalities and Good Health And Well-Being.
SAM’s centrepiece is a silicon sculpture of a torso with a bulging belly. It’s being operated on, cut in four ways with one too many surgical scissors sticking out. This is not the first time that Questionmark has operated on a pregnant silicon body. It is a recurring motif which also appeared in OB/GYN, a Questionmark performance piece where she wore the sculpture as a bodysuit and had a mock cesarean performed on her. What the doctor pulled out was an alien-looking baby, one whose humanity was both unmistakable and questionable simultaneously.
”Posthuman, transhuman, transpecies, transcorporeal, under surgery we are beings in movement and transition, under the control of the doctors' gloves. The performance OB/GYN is aware of the ethical and political dynamics that emerge in an operating room,” said Questionmark in an interview with Polyester Magazine.
Hence, in both OB/GYN and SAM, the imbalance of power between the patient and the surgeons is palpable. A video in SAM even explicitly shows how patients are injected with sedatives, making them vulnerable to anything that the surgeon wishes to enact upon the patient’s bodies. With cases of malpractice, verbal bullying and physicians sexually assaulting sedated patients being a part of everyday reality, undergoing surgery can be exactly what nightmares are made of. It was an experience terrifying enough to lend SAM its gruesome form and the word “slaughtering” in its title.
Still, the concept of birth exists in both OB/GYN and SAM. The baby born in OB/GYN symbolizes a rebirth of the self, a metaphor of rejuvenation and hope for a better future desired by those who undergo surgery of any kind. As for SAM, the body is instead suspended in surgery, waiting for that specific someone to show up and help it birth its new self in a kind and painless way.
Agnes Questionmark’s Slaughtering Archival Machine (SAM) delves into people’s multifaceted experiences in an operation theatre. Seen through the eyes of a trans woman whose identity often relies on access to affirming surgeries, SAM gives audiences access to the psychological and physical complexities that come from surgery. It challenges viewers to confront the ethical implications of modern medical practices and calls for a more just future where empathy, compassion and inclusivity are also prioritized in healthcare.
Find out more about Slaughtering Archival Machine (SAM), OB/GYN and Agnes Questionmark’s other pieces by checking her website www.agnesquestionmark.com or Instagram @agnesquestionmark.