Sloughing
duration: 28 days
February 9 - March 8, 2017
locations: Franconia Performance Salon, Royal NoneSuch Gallery, Lake Lagunita, Memorial Auditorium, 8th Street Gallery, Lake Merritt, Robley Studios, The Women’s Building (Audre Lorde room), Bakers Dozen, Museum of Performance & Design, CounterPulse, Various Living Rooms
materials: menstrual blood, 2x2 plywood boards, blue collar shirts
28_DAYS 19_LOCATIONS 35_PERFORMERS SLOUGHING
was part of 100 Days of Action, a series of artworks created to offer a counter-narrative to Trump’s one hundred day plan.
FEBRUARY 9 - MARCH 8, 2017
Sloughing makes menstruation visible. For three-hours each day, performers dressed in blue work shirts stood on 2x2 plywood boards while menstruating.
The performance insists on sloughing as an act of resistance. We EMPOWER ourselves by free-bleeding. We RESIST the notion that our bodies can be contained. We CELEBRATE our collective nastiness. By performing our right to bleed, and making our bleeding bodies visible, Sloughing sends a message to Donald Trump and all members of his oppressive administration that the body will not compromise. The body will not be silenced.
Sloughing was choreographed so that one body alone could not achieve the action. Performers included individuals who identified as women, menstruating gentlemen, genderqueers, and non-binary bleeders.
Royal NoneSuch Performance Photos by Jeremiah Barber
CounterPulse Photos by Anja Ulfeldt
Video by Rebecca Autumn Sansom and Raegan Truax