Australian Gothic is a performance piece that subverts the literary notions of 'Australian Gothic.' Which depicts the familiar as strange and highlights the abject. The artist mirrors the geographic otherness of Australia to parallel the otherness of pregnancy. The performance uses menial and repetitive actions to focus on the phenomena of nesting. These menial actions are subverted by transforming them into the grotesque. The performance examines and investigates the fear of pregnancy and the body in constant change.

Australian Gothic

Me Too Ceausescu are a series of performance pieces which investigate trauma and memory. These experiences and fractured memories are encoded in actions as intense, specific visual images and examined in the performance space.The actions both exorcise and abstract memories of trauma. Internal experience is re-configured as external experience in order to reclaim the body.
The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the artists aggressor through examining historical figure, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. 

Me Too Ceausescu

Starling is an expanded performance piece examining changes within the body during pregnancy. It investigates psychological states pre and postpartum. Using video performance and 3D modelling the piece re-examines performance practices and reinterprets the performance space. A 3D performance avatar is created by projecting images of the artist and her newborn child onto a model. The skin of the avatar and the virtual performance space effectively act as a fusing of the artist and the child. 
The movements of the artist, the child, and the avatar at times mimic one another. These combined movements are used to inform new performance actions. The avatar is utilised by the artist to overcome the limits of her physicality and to perform impossible actions.

Starling

“Daddy Action” is a performance exploring personal violent narratives through ritual. An incision is made into the arm, bathed in alcohol and finally bandaged. Through the actions, violence upon the female body is re-claimed and transformed. The violent connotations of the images are lifted as they are re-defined in the performance space and time.

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Emma Varker

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