TABLET OF PROTECTION

The digital world has become incredibly important. Starting with account numbers and social security numbers, any number of passwords and bits of data now feel critical, and we are told that all are vulnerable. Identity theft implies a sort of death in one world, even if our physical body is safe. This is a sort of nearly spiritual peril that we do not truly understand. This piece explores the role that superstition and folk traditions might have in coping with fear and doubt in the realm of modern technology. 

The Tablet of Protection references depersonalization and superstition in a digital landscape that has already outpaced our ability to understand it. Made of carved and cast beeswax, a security envelope pattern is carved into the surface, which traces across the face as well.  “Protection” here is also a dissolution of Self. The pattern protects us, hides us, and even obscures our own thoughts. By erasing and obscuring all vulnerable parts of ourselves, we are afforded safety.