Janine Antoni

I touch your listening, 2019

Mixed media gilded with 24 karat gold leaf

16 x 15 1/2 x 1 3/8 inches (40.64 x 39.37 x 3.5 cm)

Commissioned by The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.

© Janine Antoni; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
Photo: Christopher Burke

In "I touch your listening," Antoni’s mother's hand touches her father's ear. Their bodies, embraced in bed, lie in an atmosphere of gold. Impressed forms of the three small bones of the ear multiply across the horizon, articulating the space between body and frame. Above, the impressions continue their spiral into the gold frame, honoring the formation of sound as it enters the body. Below, a dragged single finger bone cradles the gesture. Hand and ear meet for a second time. Listening and touching collapse into each other.

Antoni notices that over time, as her elderly parents lose access to language and memory, touch replaces other forms of communication. Love can be measured by the quality of listening, but one does not listen only with one’s ears. 

Accentuated by gold, ear and hand draw an infinity sign. Described through older bodies, this symbol captures love in the face of impending death. How does love outlive life?

“I reach out with my touch. Your words spiral in. I touch your listening. We curl into each other.”

“I touch your listening” was a part of “I am fertile ground” at Green-Wood Cemetery.