Misc. Performance

Spoken Word. Performance Art. Acting. Dance.

SPOKEN WORD:

PERFORMANCE ART:

Series: “Fantaseyez”

Photos by: Zelle Westfall (@zellle)

A performance art piece contemplation about operating under a gaze of objectification and how it leads to an illusion of freedom and empowerment, especially when asserting it from a place of proving power over, proving a worth, and proving and an ownership of the self. In other words, sometimes what seems to be body positivity or reclaiming the body and sensuality is still done in a way that feeds male validation and the male gaze, because that’s all the mind knows. What is true freedom and empowerment outside of this conditioning?

When we’re mostly groomed to see the body in sexual contexts, we’re also conditioned to see and experience the body through a controlled lens, which denies us of all the consciousness the body holds.

Moreover, westernized spirituality has dismissed the body as something that should be transcended. The body is viewed as being secondary, rather than the entry point into consciousness and wisdom simultaneously. Understanding sensuality, understanding groundedness, power… those are concepts the mind tries to rationalize, but it’s imperative that we explore this as an inquiry purely through the body-led experience, not one supplemented with mental narrative.