Death Rattles, 2025. Interactive soft-sculpture installation. 

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Installed in the University Art Gallery at Central Michigan University. 

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Read the accompanying essay “Death Rattles, Or, Soft Guns for a Dying Empire.”

Written by Abigail Dahlke and Charlotte Richardson-Deppe.

Published by Mid-Theory Collective.

 

These sculptures combine guns, bodies, and toys. Composed of thrifted clothing, stuffed with polyfil, and embedded with squeakers, rattles, and pull-string motors, these “guns” invite you to a communal experience of sonic and tactile exploration. 

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In our devastating and violent political landscape, I grasp at absurdity. I have made ineffectual weapons from untethered limbs, distilling levity and violence into a squeaky and squishy form. 

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Gallery visitors are encouraged to touch, hold, and manipulate these sculptures.