I’M STILL GOOD

Interactive Performance (Handmade dress, store bought soil, natural sponges and water)
02:00:00
2017

PHOTOgraphy BY MELISSA BRADSHAW

The performance begins with a pile of clean top soil and myself in white dress and blindfold. There is a bucket of soiled water sitting to my left and I have a sponge in each hand. Kneeling in the dirt, I hold out the sponge in my right hand as an invitation. With my head slightly bowed, I use the opposite sponge to smear the dirt across my body. This action which is staining the once pristine dress, holds purifying qualities for me. Drawing reference from ceremonies often practiced within purity culture as well as my life long residence in the Lutheran faith, I create a space in which both myself and my participants begin to examine the origins of self-worth. This space is activated by the interaction of the participants/viewers which in turn dictates my own interventions altering the ritual. In the end, I struggle slightly before leaving behind the physical and conceptual weight that is rooted in the simultaneous development of faith and sexuality.