I survived eight years of Hard Work and all I got was a stupid salient identity (2020)
Exploring self, space, and labour, I survived is an interactive performance spanning an hour and a half in which I put on and take off a swimming race suit repetitively while viewers move in an out of the space freely. Through sound and labour I reflect on my time as a female athlete and the resulting challenges in personal identity as an artist, where both environments are unwelcoming to outside experiences or interests.
Being engaged in repetitive labour over a period of time develops an engrossing space of concentration and drive that becomes alienating to outside factors and personally deteriorating over time; being unable to concentrate on anything outside of the task at hand creates a sense of dissociation. In a total environment of sound, repetition, and physical labour, I am unable to respond or interact with those around me, or to move in and out of the space as they do. Viewers have the ability to enter/leave the space (including the online space) as they wish, choosing when to be involved but also aware of outside factors that might pull them away from it (commitments, boredom, etc.), ultimately becoming part of the work.
I survived explores the way obsession and repetition become identity, and in turn, isolation.