Most of my work returns to three core themes; grief, community, and remembrance. Through my performances I try to explore what draws me back to these, the ties I have to them, and through gesture, sound, words, and play, how can I put them forward as an organization of my thoughts? It is through this that I define what my core themes mean to me and how I want to share them.
I think I’m killing you slowly, A performance on grief, and the actions, thoughts, and words that linger.
Untitled, An exercise in movement with liminal gesture.
Comfort Zone, A return to my performance origins.
Simon Says:, A set of guided movements in accordance to sound.
Simon Says:, A set of guided movements in accordance to sound.
Within my performance work, I focus on directing an audience’s attention and utilizing that to fill in parts of my performance. Through guiding their reactions, or interacting with them as part of my work, I invite them into my work as not only witnesses but as participants of varying degrees. I consider my work most successful when I receive the response and reaction I try to direct towards, without forcing or stating but suggesting in the direction I want my work perceived.
When I bring people into my work, I try to avoid forcing them or intimidating them. I prefer engagement is natural, and that there is space for the audience to have their own reaction and ability to test the limits of the space in which they find themself. I reverse this when creating work of a more personal nature that involves presentation rather than interaction. There, I direct attention onto myself, and I stage it to best frame how I wish for my perspective on the work to be perceived- the audience is invited to my perspective as witnesses, as opposed to their perspectives informing what my work is. I still hold care as to not overwhelm, unless that is the intent of the piece, but not as shock value, but rather as an unadulterated representation that conveys a particular theme or mood. Most of my work has been based around exploring moods and themes of my life, if not synthesizing new ones.