Margaux Crump

An image of a lit black candle atop a baroque column of black dripped wax. The column is supported by a glass candlestick standing in a large glass Petri dish filled with water. For Release is the physical artifact of a ritual Margaux Crump performed to release her fears.

For Release

Fire, water, beeswax, bone char, mica, glass candlestick, glass petri dish.

30 x 7 x 7 inches

2022

I know the places in my body that feel cold and dry. These are the places that receive creative energy, but won’t release it. These are the places in me that hold fear. I pleaded with these places to heal recently. I begged them to get on with it, so I could make again. And then I heard a tiny voice flutter with laughter and say, “But you have been making. Why do you think what you make in your imagination is any less real than what you make in the physical world?”

For nine moons, I created and burnt beeswax candles infused with my fears. With every candle, the beeswax, bone char, and mica began to contain a little more of the fear that was constricting my creative energy. Each time I sat with a burning candle, I offered these fears to the flame. For Release is the physical artifact of this ritual practice.