The Tentacle
Photo documentation of decayed octopus tentacle converted into a choker necklace.
Published in Rivet Magazine No. 11, "Value," Fall 2004.

The Tentacle was a project I did for the Value issue of Rivet Magazine in summer 2004, a photo documentation of one of my investigations into the process of decay in food and textiles. An inquiry into the alchemy of value (utility, function, appreciation), The Tentacle traces the journey of an octopus tentacle purchased at a local Asian market as I transform it into a beautiful choker that I wear to a cocktail party.

While the tentacle decayed in my sun-drenched live/work space in summer 2004, it gave off a stench that was so putrid even I who decay fruits, vegetables and cooked meats could not spend much more than sleeping hours in my space! Finally, after nearly four weeks in the constant sun, the tentacle dried out enough that its aroma dissipated and I could manipulate it. I cut off the suctions and let them dry out some more. I sewed the hardened suctions onto a strip of clear plastic vinyl to which I attached a snap so it fastened it around my neck. The tentacle was no longer a piece of seafood. It was a delicate, feminine-looking necklace. When I wore it, people would always comment on its beauty, often asking what the "beads" were made of and where I got them.

Through this process of material decay, the tentacle at first lost its social value (as food) altogether, repelling people like a heap of organic trash. After passing through this phase of utter in-utility and noxiousness, I was able to resurrect it into a beautiful and delicate choker. This alchemic process increased its monetary and aesthetic values; the passage of time living with and wearing the tentacle endowed it with a personal, sentimental value. Still, wearing the necklace makes it impossible to forget its origins: wafts of fishy stench still catch my nose when I wear it. Despite the months, now years that have passed since it was alive, its smell remains, a reminder that what it once was will always be part of what it has become.