I aim to understand the dynamics of my geographical surroundings. Merging public and private notions of space allows my work to transverse between the known and the forgotten. In past performances conducted for the public, handmade objects became tools to connect the body to site, bridging the gap between the familiar and unfamiliar, the personal and political. “Brick Beam/Hair Pull” is an extension of these concerns, positioning the body within a raw space for a captive audience.

When asked by AUNTS, a collective challenging the concept of contemporary movement and dance, to create a performance at Arts@Renaissance, I was immediately drawn to the easily overlooked bathroom within the multi-room building. Hollow plaster bricks, painted faux hair attached to an existing paper towel holder and a large weather balloon subsumed new material qualities once placed within the context of the bathroom. The plaster bricks were carefully positioned into a balance beam, a ligament connecting the private space of the bathroom with the public space of the hallway. As the beam was built and walked upon, it crumbled into a broken line, leaving a residue of plaster shards amongst the audience. The beam fragments were then swept back inside the bathroom floor space and the weather balloon inflated with a battery operated air pump. With the weather balloon filling the space and the brick shards littering the floor, the bathroom became an uncanny archive; the hair and balloon as surrogates of the absent body, the bricks as relics of actions past.

“Brick Beam/Hair Pull” summons the intimacy, endurance and awkward motion of the female worker. With Sisyphean determination, the body forces a gentle collision of public and private, building a site to deconstruct and redefine limitations; the thin skin of a balloon, the analogous texture of a brick, all objects that move the body closer to understanding her immediate landscape.