SOFT

commissioned by MAYK Bristol

supported by by Jerwood Developing Artist Fund

SOFT is at the earliest of beginnings. For now I am thinking it will be a dance theatre show - with a long integrated process involving installation and durational performances - rooted in joy for the natural world.

SOFT will be a body of work that I will play with for the next two years over the course of  I Like It. What is It? residency. This will involve live performance, installation and a long integrated process of engagement with the public. 

Experimenting with how we are hardlined about being soft; how we are serious about playing; how quickly we can connect to the power of slowness. All in search of connecting to our joy for the natural world.

Softness as an act of non-violence. A philosophy of interaction towards others. A reclaiming of what the patriarchy has claimed as weak, unambitious, timid, unpowerful. 

Slowness as a way of making change, disrupting and resisting capitalism. Inviting chaos into the slow. Pleasure in the slow. Capitalism is the destruction of our planet. The concept of Slow is a disruption of that - I believe it holds the potential space for change, but it needs to happen quickly.

Play as a way of imagining what we need but haven’t yet conjured into being. I am curious about creating a large scale piece of work that is a political architecture capturing the play in the audience's hearts and minds. A choir of images. A bath of sounds. A slow dance of change. Huge wild visuals and animation.

I will be collaborating with a collection of artists through this process involving Ira Brand, Jo Fong and many more brilliant beings soon to be announced.

Below are a few images as visual references for the vibe of thoughts and feelings around softness so far. Most of these images are not my own and have been collected over recent months during moments of scrolling the inter-world! If you would like the sources please get in touch.

For more in depth visual references CLICK HERE