As a Type-I diabetic and an artist I create interactive performances that comment on the state of personal and cultural health in the USA. I utilize sculpture, two-dimensional art, and actions in my performances. I borrow and create symbols to form a language that audiences use as they navigate my performances.
My actions and performance objects prompt audiences to explore first hand the methods, ideas, and tools of health and healing. My interest is in prompting individuals to take a closer look at their own perceptions of body image, sickness, and health. I move through the audience and bring about their interaction by using authority and ideas of trust and anticipation. The outcome of each performance is wholly dependant on the viewer’s participation and personal reactions.
As a person living with a chronic illness, my awareness of the body-mind connection is sharp. My performances ask individuals to consider the many factors that influence health and our healthcare system in the United States. I explore how our own knowledge and actions affect the long term health of our bodies and our environments. Our faith, our culture, and our own abilities directly impact our wellbeing.
Television ads, pharmaceutical industries, healthcare insurance companies, the FDA, and our government shape our cultural understanding of healthy living. These entities control the types of healing and healthcare available to populations throughout the USA and beyond. Wealth and poverty dictate the health of populations. Knowledge of the common and alternative systems of healthcare empower individuals to live with healthy bodies.
We are our bodies. Healthcare is a personal and a universal right. Healing is a personal and universal responsibility. My performances ask audiences to explore the very physical nature of who they are.