Excavating the Bones of New Deities in Margaret Chen’s Work
Interior’s most striking feature is the taxidermized bird embedded within it. Possibly a direct reference to the Ziz, the bird can also be seen as a poignant symbol for the act of sacrifice. The root meaning of sacrifice is to ‘make something holy’. The way this creature which has forever departed its mortal shell is remade into something, commanding such awe is a means of transmuting it into something holy. Its encasement in clear glass is also meaningful — a material which like water is reflective and often considered a portal. Here it serves as a container, trapping a thing that was once free and unbound even from the laws of gravity. The creature is given a second life in a way, but a life it cannot make use of.
