Deconstruction of an automobile
In 2009 I spent the summer taking my 1997 Nissan Sentra apart. Below is an excerpt from a journal I kept during the process.
August 17, 2009
After a month of deconstruction, and prior months of preparation, a local recycling company, took the car today for it to be crushed an recycled.
For 1 month I deconstructed this car I owned for over 6years. Once I opened the cover to expose the timing chain I knew the project was complete. This was the moment that I associated the car with the body. For I had found the heart and it was done ticking. Somehow, the surgeon I had become was not what I wanted. I was finished dissecting the object.
Fluids burst and poured by the bucket full's. My apron covered in grease and antifreeze. The car seemed to moan and hiss. I was not interested in detaching the parts aggressively or innovatively. Rather, I went about it simply and directly. I listened, paid attention, found difficulties, read my way through it, and felt my way through the rest of it.
It is a hard truth. It is a difficult reality. But in the end, all must pass. The things left behind are difficult to settle on a place to reside. The nuts and bolts are all that is left.
