In Salvation and Absolution the Menezes uses the repetitive ritual of washing to expel  jealousy of white blonde women through two short experiments. In Absolution, she washes a bar of soap covered in her black hair until it completely disappears interrogating her jealousy as a potential ‘sin,’ she hopes to wash away. In Salvation a white blonde woman gently washes her feet just as Jesus Christ washes the feet of the apostles. Here, the white blonde woman who she likens to a Christ-like figure demonstrates humility through an inversion of power. Questions of purity, repentance, and forgiveness are raised as the artist ritualizes her own healing amidst the pain and cruelty of white supremacy.

Credits: The artist would like to recognize that this artwork was made with funding from Factory Media Centre: Now Production Residency and Scholarship program. A special thank you to Dima Matar, Mariel Rutherford and Emma Silverthorne.