“The Dividing Line [Shifts]” is a series of performative gestures that investigates the residual effects of trauma. As an intersection of gendered labor (or “women’s work”) and somatics, performance action implies the cognitive struggle involved in average daily activity while presenting both the strength and fragility of evolving social structures. As a navigation of emotional boundaries encountered with archetypes most women face, the work examines how and in what circumstances boundaries are constructed, what they protect, where they fail, and what byproducts emerge from their failures. “The Dividing Line [Shifts]” recognizes that these structures are erected as a result of relational circumstances, change throughout life, and exist simultaneously in varying integrities. The simple act (of cracking an egg and using its shell as a brittle material for this metaphorical wall) comments on the precarious process of protecting one’s Self while encountering external models for learned behavior.

This intimate performance took place at Litehaus Gallerie + Projectrium in Berlin, Germany. Over one hour, the performance progressed from rolling an egg on the table, then over my body, until it finally cracks. Completing this several times, the performance progresses to cracking the egg often on the head and taking the shells to cover the ears. This is the brittle boundary created from things we hear. The cycle continues as eggs go from mindful rolling to slamming onto the head as a defiant rejection of the former boundary. The performance ends by returning to the beginning—the rolling of the eggs. This suggests the whole process is a cycle to be revisited.