The Body of the People is a site-specific art installation and performance that interweaves iconic language and visual imagery into a poetic discourse concerning current socio-political disruptions. Installed and performed at The Old South Meeting House in Boston on September 29, 2016, The Body of the People will be a reflection upon the state of current protest movements in the United States at the site of the very first protest in America: The Boston Tea Party in 1773. The work draws on protests that I have participated in and documented to create an immersive artwork that questions individual and class representation in the political upheavals taking place in the United States today. For this project, I have created a series of large-scale drawings (see attached image) of protesters and have compiled slogans, mission statements, and manifestos from the major protest movements in the United States today, including Democracy Spring, Democracy Awakening, Black Lives Matter, etc. From these documents, I have created a surreal and poetic text that will be delivered as an address and sung by an opera singer, accompanied by a jazz trio for the duration of the performance. Hosted in collaboration with Arts Administration at Boston University and a range of international and Boston-based institutional and private partners, the Body of the People will premiere at the Old South Meeting House as part of THE SOCIAL, the International Association for Visual Culture’s Fourth Biennial Conference at Boston University. The event will be free and open to the public.
http://www.bu.edu/artsadmin/2016/05/13/the-body-of-the-people/