Jon Langford Thirsty Woman (7" Single)

The full title of this niftly little package is "Thirsty Woman If You Drink This Water You'll Never Be Thirsty Again." That gets cumbersome on the title page, though.

This record is the first collaboration between artist Christine Tarkowski and musician/artist Jon Langford. The 45rpm single is a component part to a larger project Christine currently has in NY, "Whale Oil, Slave Ships and Burning Martyrs."

In a monumental mixed media installation, Tarkowski explores the manner in which systems of belief pervade all aspects of our lives, through the construction of her very own faith-based order.

Rather than first articulating the parameters of her new religion and then assembling a congregation, Tarkowski works in a reverse method and begins the process with designing a place of worship, of which a fragment is on display in this exhibition.

Accompanying the architecture are additional elements that makeup Tarkowski's fabricated belief system-propaganda in the form of broadsides, hymns in the vernacular of alt punk-country, and a photographic (essay-monologue) that serves as a visual legend by way of screen prints and a pamphlet. The hymns, created in collaboration with Langford are melodic recitations of related ideas.

Together, these components set the stage for Tarkowski's alternative vision, while maintaining and opposing their original reference point of existing faith-based entities. In reversing the system's development process, and drawing from our immediate societal concerns, Tarkowski delivers a pertinent critique of the current construct of our society.