Sail Breath performance

2019

The Sail Breath performance addresses the connections between generations and across continents. During a residency by the sea in Brighton, England, I constructed a sail to remind participants that each breath propels us forward and connects us to the continuum of life and the history of immigration and diaspora. Constructed of a bed sheet I slept under during the residency, providing warmth and comfort far from home, the sail became a literal canvas during the performance. I drew ancestor self-portraits on it, then hoisted it and invited participants to contribute their own breaths.

This performance was developed during a residency with the D2P Program for Drawing Performance Practice, funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission (which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts and by a generous award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.) Thank you!

ABOUT THE ANCESTOR PROJECT & THE ROAD WEST

The Sail Breath performance is an extension of the Ancestor Project and The Road West exhibition, installation and art book:

I define my creative action as drawing, whether I'm using paint, charcoal or other media. In my work the word 'draw' means not only to place marks on a surface but also to extract, like to draw a breath or to draw a conclusion.

In this project I draw my ancestors to explore increasingly vital current-day issues of empathy and the shared human experience. I invite these ancestors to introduce themselves to me through the medium of self-portraiture. Each drawing is both a literal self-portrait (I draw them using a mirror) and a searching lens into the lives of other generations. As part of an interdisciplinary collaboration with poet Julia Johnson, these images address themes of identity and displacement, drawing from our own experiences as recently as post-Katrina New Orleans, looking back through the Irish and German emigrations, and even farther back through the formative events of our very distant past.

At a time when identity can be so fluid and displacement is a global reality, it's important to recognize the long contribution of the individuals who compose each of us. I'm not just me, I'm the sum of multitudes of ancestors whose blood is my blood, whose lives ultimately became my life. The immigrants of today will be the ancestors of tomorrow. This project aims to illuminate the connection between people through time to stimulate present-day empathy.