In performances, videos, I confront stereotypes and tropes of gender representation to create a space of uncertainty. I research and deconstruct the ways in which women are portrayed in popular culture and on the Internet. I contrast the natural world and the outdoors, to trends, themes and memes from the web, mashing up Kardashian culture with the rural, forested environment in New Hampshire where I live. Thighbrows, thigh gaps, and facial masks become fodder for my work. I use humor and sarcasm as an entry point into issues of gender, power and class in order to call out the invisible structures and sexism that pervades both the physical world and the online world. Masks, makeup and identity are also a fascination of mine.
Often employing physical comedy, my videos document performances in which I explore the pressures and contradictions I face on a daily basis. I push concepts from web videos and advertising to the absurd so that the content becomes humorous and sometimes alarming.
Since becoming a mother, this experience has become part of my work. I have created videos to address the infantilization of expectant mothers and reality of caring for children and parents. Personal, sometimes awkward, yet open and inviting, the work emphasizes the physicality of the body, showing both vulnerability and strength, following in the tradition of feminist performance art. This work comes from a place of experience and honesty.
I’ve been a working artist, curator, community activist and teacher for more than 25 years, creating and producing intimate solo performances, large-scale public happenings, socially engaged interventions and performance art workshops and lectures. My practice extends across black boxes and white cubes, art fairs and subway stations, international festivals, and single bathroom stalls. I’ve operated an artist-run newsstand in a vacant subway station kiosk, a soup kitchen for artists, a breast milk tasting bar, and a performance festival hub for kids. I’m forever inspired by the rebel queers, renegade witches, and other dyke moms I run with, and bound to many brilliant artists, activists, spell-casters and healers. For many years I made performances that drew from my own experiences of trauma and transformation, intimacy and motherhood. More recently, I’ve experienced a shift in my practice, where my attention has turned to wider theoretical questions about the nature of performance itself to ask questions about when, where, how we perform - in theatres and galleries, on social media, and in our everyday lives.