January 2013

Apport

The modern Spiritualist movement—the belief in and practice of communication with the dead through psychic mediums—came to prominence in the U.S. beginning in the mid-19th century. A typical séance of this period would include a structure known as a Spirit Cabinet—a curtained area in which the medium would sit that functioned as the portal to the afterlife. Following successful contact with the spirit world, an ectoplasmic substance would emit from various bodily orifices of the medium and surround the séance participants. The substance had a short life cycle over which it appeared first as dense liquid, intangible vapor and finally cobweb-like object before disappearing. In some cases, the medium would appear to conjure a fully materialized object from some unknown paranormal source. This is known as an “apport.”

This work investigates the suspension of disbelief that allowed the Spiritualist audience—a group that believed in and practiced the ‘art’ of communication with the dead through psychic mediums. Boland explores both the environment that allowed for the occurrence, and the occurrence itself.

View more of Boland’s work at www.erinboland.com