Today, Amanda Palmer has released “Death Thing,” which is crowd-sourced music video where she and collaborator/dancer Coco Karol ritualistically set fire to hundreds of sentimental objects by wedding gowns and rings, dog tags, diplomas, children’s shoes, birth certificates, family photos and old love letters, all hand-mailed to her from all parts of the globe by members of her 25,000-member Patreon.“This video was collective act of exorcism on the part of my patrons, using me as the match,” says Palmer. “People have been waiting patiently to see these objects burned since they mailed them to me in hundreds of haunted boxes, envelopes and packages. It’s the largest-scale community-driven project I’ve ever created, and it feels so good to finally be getting back to work and putting art into the world again.
The artist adds: “Everyone I know has walked through their circles of hell over the last five years – loss, grief, Covid, divorces, miscarriages – and this video felt like a way to collaboratively let go of an agonizing past and to take a (literal) naked step forward into the future. I felt a real sense of pride and solemn responsibility throwing people’s childhoods, engagement rings, PhD theses, and adoption papers into that fire. Some of the items brought me to tears, especially the things belonging to children: the toys, the little shoes.”
On another note, Palmer has teased on social media that she is working on a new book; she is also in the early stages of creating a Broadway-style live show featuring a set of songs she penned following her return to America after living abroad by accident; the COVID pandemic hit as Palmer was concluding a world tour in New Zealand; she stayed on in that country for over two years.
Photo Credit: Brandy Hornback
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