Landfill

Left -  Dani Cole

Originally, I began exploring the movement idea by putting on and wrapping myself in what felt like endless layers of clothes (I would wear things catty wonk, i.e. a jacket backwards). The bareness of my body in those shorts made me feel like I was revealing too much and I wanted to cover myself in "vegetation," in solace, in something warm, soft, and eventually moist as a result of moving and generating heat. The red blanket became the clothes over time and the half screen view became protection through a focus on the ground, a futile effort to cover what was there, yet feel the impact of the blanket under and around my bare ankles.

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Right - Krishna Washburn

The score material that I cycle through in these videos encompass about four basic intentions. The first is an expression of a pure kinetic energy, very active in an almost manic, highly passionate way, jumping, running through all of the available space, and burning through energy with expressive purpose. The second is a kind of collection of time and identity markers: presentation of books that I read with my husband over the course of the pandemic, presentation of cleaning supplies, the white cane, the shades, the mask, the fan, the Greek dance that connects me to other art I have done this year, ballet lesson material that I taught my students in the Dark Room, the things I will remember twenty years from now when I reflect upon this time. The third is being Riker's Island, being an island and wanting things, wanting to exist in a different way than I currently do, often emotional, often despondent. This being an island bleeds into a letter to Fox, Malaika's baby son, who was born during the pandemic, and who I am still yet to meet in person, which is something else that brings the same kinds of emotions.