Chrissy Conant
Chrissy Caviar, 2002
White Sturgeon roe, or Beluga caviar, one of the world’s greatest delicacies, is usually marketed in metal tins or glass jars. I am reassigning the use of small, glass jars, in order to create a conceptual art object. By slightly adjusting the standard wording on the product label to reflect its new, unique contents, and replacing the usual image of a fish with a photograph of myself, reclining in elegant evening wear, I am creating a new product: Chrissy Caviar®, of the Human, Caucasian variety. Placed inside each jar there is, instead of fish roe, one of my eggs. Combined with human tubal fluid, each egg is anaerobically sealed inside the same sort of biology specimen research and transport tube that scientists use for mouse and human eggs and/or embryos (note: mouse and hamster eggs are physically and genetically similar to human eggs, and they are used by in-vitro fertilization labs for practice and research purposes). Each filled tube is suspended in a clear, viscous silicone-based liquid, inside each jar, and sealed. The series includes twelve jars, based on the idea of hens’ eggs being commercially packaged by the dozen.
