This image documents a performance which was done during Marina Abramovic’s “The Artist is Present” performed at the MoMA March 14–May 31, 2010 in which members of the audience were invited to sit across from her in a chair. As a performance artist myself, I was compelled to sit with her just out of respect and admiration for her work. Notions of the institution, identity, femininity, purity, artist as commodity, were all mentioned after I dressed up as a bride and sat with Marina.
I initially just wanted to create a dialogue between Marina and I, both sitting as subjects of our own work, both married to what we do. Marina as a very established performance artist, I am just an emerging artist. There we sat in the middle of an institution. Artists are married to their galleries or museums that show their work. The institution needs us as much as we need them. Here I sat in the same arena.

I thought of Marina’s own personal love story between Ulay and her. Why didn’t they marry on the Great Wall of China? She is alone in this retrospective. I sat as bride to mirror her, another female artist married to her art. As an act of surrender we sat there staring each other down. She smirked at the sight of me. I smirked too. We played our roles. In my head she was the priestess, I was the bride. I took it as she pardoned me with her blessings and welcomed me into her time, space and our institution.