“White Roses, Pink Glitter” took place in a half-open space on a cold October day. The weather was around seven degrees celsius at 2:30 pm and around three degrees celsius when I finished at 9 pm. I covered my naked body with pink glitter and held three rose branches for five hours while lying still on a table.

The shiny, microplastic material we recognize as glitter today was invented by a German-American in the US during World War II, though crushed minerals and crystals have long been used as cosmetics and paints. Today, glitter is often regarded as an expression of queer non-normative desire. I chose pink glitter to gesture at the necrological pink triangle of Nazi times and their massacres against the LGBTI+ community. In my performance, I literally tabled my own body in order to point out that queer bodies are still targeted by the same system. White roses are an expression of condolence in Germany.

I lay almost still on the table for five hours in the freezing space. There were moments when my body was shivering from the draft between the open window in front of the space and the open door next to my performance site. It was one of the most challenging performances I’ve done. I wanted to create a beautiful living sculpture-image of queer resilience. My pink, shiny throat made my heartbeat visible through my arteries, and I shared my living with a socially-distanced audience.