2018 On Futures: A Performance Symposium | The Others | London, UK
2017 Project OneTake | Hoxton Cabin | London, UK
2017 zombification | with Martin O'Brien | London, UK
In 2017, I attended Martin O'Brien's DIY workshop titled For The Dead Travel Fast. As a group, we made a pilgrimage to Whitby, UK and Transylvania, Romania where we followed in the footsteps of Dracula. This workshop sparked my interest in the undead and subsequent conversations with Martin led me to the zombie. In this series of performances, I use the popular cultural figure of the zombie as a metaphor for investigating ideas of race, immigration, identity and 'other-ness'.
My transformation into a zombie began with a tender ritual carried out by Martin. It began with him biting me and wrapping me up with clingfilm in an act of symbolic infection and subsequent death. He then proceeded to enact a series of actions upon my body including force feeding, hitting, tickling and pinning my scrotum to a butterfly board with hypodermic needles. The ritual ended with Martin presenting me with a shark's tooth and me biting him on the neck as thanks. With the ritual over, I was officially a zombie.
In my second performance – untitled (WHAM!) performed at Hoxton Cabin – I was covered in gold leaf and carried into the space already wrapped up in clingfilm. I subsequently cut myself out and proceeded to stuff chillis into my mouth. The World's Biggest Gangbang played in the background as I defecated in a bucket and proceeded to write on a flag with my own faeces before nailing it to a wall.
In untitled performed at The Others, I crawl into the space on my hands and knees. My body is covered in feathers, my face is covered in gold leaf, chillis protrude from my mouth, hypodermic needles are pinned in my forehead and a collar is around my neck. I crawl onstage and proceed to clean myself. I wipe off the feathers, I remove the collar, I pull the needles out of my forehead, I shave my head. Blood trickles down my face as I stand naked in the middle of the audience and sing a rendition of Will You Love Me Tomorrow. I walk out of the space when the song is over.
Documentation by Holly Revell, Kit Bower-Morris & Frauke Requardt
