The Deathworks of May Elizabeth Kramner
A mixed media installation by The Poyais Group (Jesse Ball, Thordis Bjornsdottir, Olivia Robinson, & Jesse Stiles)
Tents, pavilions, text, self-performing reed organs, incandescent light bulbs
2011

The Deathworks of May Elizabeth Kramner is a mixed media installation by The Poyais Group (Jesse Ball, Thordis Bjornsdottir, Olivia Robinson, & Jesse Stiles). They provide the following account of the work:

“May Elizabeth Kramner (1867-1977) was a recluse and an artist of the type now dubbed ‘outsider.’ Her life work consisted of a model of the town in which she lived. Each house was represented by a tent and on each tent was sewn the manner of death of a person (or persons) who lived in that house at some time during her life.

May Elizabeth’s work was witnessed by no person outside of her immediate family during her lifetime. After her passing, the Deathworks were discovered by Charles and Dorothy Winright, the acclaimed anthropologists, but were destroyed in a fire shortly thereafter.

In 2011, The Poyais Group recreated the artworks based upon Dorothy Winwright’s notes from her initial survey of May Elizabeth’s tents and pavilions.

‘We hope that the brilliant striving of this hermit may prove inspirational to others in this complicated time. We hope too that our tent-city will delight and astonish.’ – The Poyais Group, March 2011″