JULIA MARISCAL // BLOG

“(…) In his writings on gifts, the French anthropogist Marcel Mauss (1972-1950) refers to a particular and very rare type of ritual known as potlatch, widespread among the Indian peoples of north-west America (the Kwakiutl, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian). Its original purpose was to redress the balance, trhough ritualised forms of destruction, of social differences caused by the accumulation of possessions. The spectacular destruction of surplus goods therefore assumes the role of a socio-political sacrifice in which the loss of property is associated with the possibility of attaining power. ‘And it is only through loss that glory and honour can be associated with goods. Potlatch is the opposite of the principle of conservation.’

Norma Jeane’s potlatch pieces are the contemporary expression of an ancient sacrifice in a society which idolises and pursues the accumulation of possessions as an end in itself.”

By Alessandra Galasso

‘STRANGELY FAMILIAR. In the studio: Norma Jeane’. TATE ETC. Issue 11/Autumn 2007 (page 62)