My x is your + is my ~
At Panorama Gallery I sit at different places and weave my hat, which I wear on my head. The audience, moving from performance to performance of the other artists, experiences me sitting in the same position in different places.
For the final performance I take off my hat and place it in the middle of the room. With a lipstick I draw symbols on the faces and hands of the guests and on my own skin. When all are marked with a symbol (circle, spiral, waves, triangle, etc) I write around the hat in a spiral:
Your x is my + is your ~ is my = is your ≈ is my ∞ is your Δ ....
Then I smudge the red paint on my face and hands and take off my white t-shirt.
I lovingly cleanse the face and hands of every visitor with the T-shirt. Finally, I try to clean my face with it and then put on the red smudged T-shirt.
The festival "performancear o morir" invites the artists to perform as part of an annual ceremony of the indigenous tribe of the Raramuris.
The Raramuris have always resisted the Spanish conquerors and many elements of their own culture they have been able to maintain.
With this performance I ask if and how an approach to such a culture is possible. Can we not experience their ceremonies and rituals only by interpreting through our own symbolic language and experience? How do they perceive our art performances? In this performance, I try to work out how an approximation can take place.
A physical gesture, such as the loving cleansing of the faces and hands, can be a nonverbal communication between people of different cultures, which can be understood without further explanation.
April 2019
Performancear o morir
International Performance Art festival
Panorama Gallery, Chihuahua Mexico
Pics: Sylvia Alonso, Graciella Ovejero Postigo
For the final performance I take off my hat and place it in the middle of the room. With a lipstick I draw symbols on the faces and hands of the guests and on my own skin. When all are marked with a symbol (circle, spiral, waves, triangle, etc) I write around the hat in a spiral:
Your x is my + is your ~ is my = is your ≈ is my ∞ is your Δ ....
Then I smudge the red paint on my face and hands and take off my white t-shirt.
I lovingly cleanse the face and hands of every visitor with the T-shirt. Finally, I try to clean my face with it and then put on the red smudged T-shirt.
The festival "performancear o morir" invites the artists to perform as part of an annual ceremony of the indigenous tribe of the Raramuris.
The Raramuris have always resisted the Spanish conquerors and many elements of their own culture they have been able to maintain.
With this performance I ask if and how an approach to such a culture is possible. Can we not experience their ceremonies and rituals only by interpreting through our own symbolic language and experience? How do they perceive our art performances? In this performance, I try to work out how an approximation can take place.
A physical gesture, such as the loving cleansing of the faces and hands, can be a nonverbal communication between people of different cultures, which can be understood without further explanation.
April 2019
Performancear o morir
International Performance Art festival
Panorama Gallery, Chihuahua Mexico
Pics: Sylvia Alonso, Graciella Ovejero Postigo