BOX SERIES
My “Box” series investigates interpersonal relationships, my sense of self, and my struggle to navigate expectations and restrictions (whether perceived or actual).
My “Box” series investigates interpersonal relationships, my sense of self, and my struggle to navigate expectations and restrictions (whether perceived or actual).
Another Box
FiveMyles Gallery
July 30, 2022
Another Box explores boundary setting and the lines we draw to make ourselves feel safe and secure while also acknowledging that these boundaries can lead to isolation. How can we balance the need for autonomy with the desire to connect and be seen? Can these boundaries cultivate growth and the ability to thrive? When the Boing Boing leaf withers and turns yellow, do we try to nurture it back to life or simply wait until the leaf falls off its stem to regenerate and grow at its own accord? How do we communicate the invisible thresholds between our performing selves and the pain, fear, and anxiety we carry and hold within ourselves? Using movement, audio recording, and spoken word, Another Box animates the many voices contained within the artist’s psyche, questioning the space between herself and another.
All photos: Jonathan Campoverde
Boxed In
site-specific performance
October 8, 2016
Boxed-In was an improvisational movement piece based upon investigations into immigration trends and setbacks in and around NYC. The piece was conceived in response to Christina Stahr's Red Tape Labyrinth; Immigration Meditation, a site-specific participatory art installation and performance platform presented as part of Art in Odd Places 2016: RACE. Using gestural themes from Syrian and Mexican folk dance as a starting point, I found movement by meditating upon the emotional impacts of fleeing, striving, and trying to start anew. Somber yet playful, my 40 minute journey through the labyrinth was marked by struggle, exhaustion, disappointment, and drive. Red Tape Labyrinth; Immigration Meditation was staged on 14th street and 10th avenue, right below The High Line.
Some unedited raw footage for your perusal: watch!
Some unedited raw footage for your perusal: watch!
Photos courtesy Allison Meier for Hyperallergic, Noa Charuvi, and Paul Hunter.
Soap Box
Fridman Gallery
October 23, 2015
My first foray into a solo-practice in performance art, Soap Box was prompted by Tamar Ettun's invitation to perform in response to her exhibition Alula in Blue, presented at Fridman Gallery during the fall of 2015. Although terrified and confused at first, the piece developed into a monologue describing both my fear of performing my own work (I went into art history so I could talk about other people's work, not my own!) and the same fear and vulnerability I felt around dating. Using humor, costume changes, and a whole lot of grit (or was it displaced humility) I shared my own struggle with inhabiting various identities in this world that seems to want to place us in one box: I am a curator, I am a performer, I am a teacher, (I want to be a lover), and I am putting it all on top of this box. You have to listen, and I hope you can relate.
