Kasra Seyed Alikhani

Sloughing Off Skin is a fictional video work featuring a commercial spa built on an old health spa, relating to its history as a medical bath institution. The once so painful hydrotherapies that were performed in the late-19th century have now been replaced by enjoyable baths at body temperature in artificially staged enactments of nature. The video work takes us along on Maryam’s spa session through phone calls with her mother in a mixture of Swedish and Persian. Maryam has come here to drink water from the well that is supposed to be especially healing during the full moon, according to folklore. Alikhani raises questions about the spiritual void that the wellness industry fills, and uses the spa as a window from which to scrutinise contemporary perspectives on pain and lingering ideas on hygiene.