the burden of this

Trauma is an individual experience yet manifests similarly in our bodies often challenging the simplest of tasks.  Not matter the source or severity, trauma registers in the body creating longterm, lasting changes in our physiology.  Intimate partner abuse however tends to be a predominantly a female issue with one in four women with this experience as opposed to one in nine in men, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

the burden of this, which is the action of walking while dragging the artist’s own body weight in manure, is performed in public spaces as as an example of how we always grapple with our trauma, no matter the place or circumstance.  This is not a romanticized notion of emotional weight.  The abject body, a manure sack, represents any of the 41+ autoimmune disorders those with PTSD are vulnerable.  Often difficult to diagnose, symptoms are often dismissed as “all in your head.”  This is a systemic silencing of women and abuse.  Throughout the performance, the artist fights the abject body as she tries to maneuver the public sphere, much like the navigation of illness.

Performed live at: Glitterbox Theater, Pittsburgh, PA; Wilkes University; Queens Museum, Queens, NY; Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, NY; Ohio University Galleries, Athens, OH; South London for Tempting Failure PAF, UK
Duration: variable
Date: 2017-18

JULY 21, 2018: Public Intervention of the burden of this as part of Tempting Failure Performance Art and Noise Festival, Croydon Town Centre and Surrey Market, London, UK; duration: 1 hour

photos by Julia Bauer

MAY 19, 2018: Public Intervention of the burden of this as part of Itinerant Performance Art Festival, curated by Hector Canonge
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY; duration: 30 minutes

photos by Merissa Seminara

MAY 19, 2018: Performance of the burden of this as part of Itinerant Performance Art Festival, curated by Hector Canonge
Queens Museum; duration: 25 minutes

photos by Renee Regan

APRIL 11, 2018: Performance of the burden of this at Wilkes University; Duration: 1 hour

photos by Jessica Morandi