Looking For Guides To An Alternative
In the “Looking For Guides To An Alternative” actions, a long strip of cloth is woven out of the clothes I am wearing. For one incarnation, in Toronto's financial district, a 35 foot piece was woven over the course of 6 days from the business suit I was wearing and from contributions from passers-by.
These performances are as much about opening conversations, as they are about the object that is eventually woven. This work is a contemplation on materiality that confronts a symbol of power, the business suit. Cutting up the garment, while I am wearing it, not only reveals the tailor’s skill, care and time but also drastically changes how my authority and status is perceived over the extent of the event.
The first incarnation of this piece was done in January,2013 at the 8th Encuentro in Sao Paulo, Brazil, organized by the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. It was subsequently presented at North-by-North East (NXNE), Toronto 2013; “My Future Ex”, UB Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 2013; “This Could be the Place” University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, 2014, "Queering Space" CLG Archives, Toronto, 2015 and "L&P Labour", Montreal, 2015.
This piece was realized through the financial support of the Established Artist's Grant from the Ontario Arts Council in 2012.