In my dreams, Adrian Piper is an artist who lives forever. What Will Become of Me is an ongoing work that will be completed upon her death. To make this work, since 1985 Piper has collected cast-off bits of her hair, skin, and fingernails in honey jars that are displayed on a blue shelf, and two documents, one of which includes a statement of her intention to donate the work to The Museum of Modern Art. The work will be completed when a final honey jar, containing the artist’s cremated remains, joins the others.

In pre-coronavirus times, when I’ve thought about this work it’s brought to my mind questions about how and why certain people are valued and what it means to care for the past. What I’m newly compelled by is Piper’s use of the simple honey jar. When the daily news is in serious want of some sweetness, I find a bit of peace thinking of all the honey—collectively produced by bees, who are social creatures—that I imagine went into nourishing the body that produced all those humble fragments on the shelf.

Submitted by Lanka Tattersall, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints