Vernix ii
Performed October 2022 at
‘UNMADE – Spaces in Between’
Centrespace Gallery, Bristol.
Shots from Performance - Photography Louis Lansdall
30 min
Performance by Jocelyn Brett and Hat Fidkin
Sound by Twara / Hat / MP
Movement coach – Yves Sullivan
The sound piece underpinned the performance, it was ethereal, dramatic and overwhelming – like being underwater.
The performance began with Jos as in a corpse - like position on the floor for 15 min.
A narrative voice begins the audio piece (see text below).
Hat is tied to Jos with ambilocal like rope. We are in fetal position. We make many attempts to stand (on all fours). We fall repeatedly. Hat starts using the rope to pull Jos over. Jos is made to fall repeatedly. The performance gets more violent until Jos gives in.
1,2, begin calving out
1,2, begin calving out
Parturition is imminent.
Open your eyes to the dark.
Run your tongue along the inside of your cheek
That’s the space we are in.
Living inside of her.
Taste the earth, a mouth full of dirt swallowed together.
Psychotic symbiosis held in equilibrium.
Oxymoronic progression.
old devours the new
Deriving nutrients at the others expense.
in the neck of the womb,
you writhe underfoot
stiffened limbs
entombed body
A thick string of mucus is often observed
then a sudden rush of fluid
Feast on the lactate drawn from the soil
drink amniotic sap
Hollow out a crevice in your stomach and crawl inside.
1,2, begin calving out