Performing the Wound: Practicing a Feminist Theatre of Becoming

This book provides a feminist-centered analysis of trauma and performance by examining the work of three artists: Ann Hamilton, Renée Green, and Cecilia Vicuña. Each artist engages in a multi-media, or "combination," performance practice that involves traumatic content and creates an aesthetic milieu that invites audience engagement. The author suggests that these works facilitate an audience-performance relationship based on ethical witnessing/wit(h)nessing, in which viewers are not positioned as voyeurs and are not made to risk re-traumatization. The study will be of interest to students and scholars of performance studies, art history, visual arts, feminist studies, theatre, film, performance art, postcolonialism, rhetoric, and writing.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book provides a comprehensive and feminist-oriented analysis of trauma and performance by examining the work of three artists: Ann Hamilton, Renée Green, and Cecilia Vicuña. Each artist engages in a multi-media or "combination" performance practice, incorporating various elements such as site, embodied performance, material elements, film, and writing. Each case study delves into traumatic content, including the legacy of slavery, child sexual abuse, and environmental degradation. Instead of immersing the audience, the artists create an aesthetic milieu that invites and enables agency, offering multiple pathways for engagement with the art.

The author, Niki Tulk, suggests that these works foster an audience-performance relationship based on the concept of ethical witnessing or wit(h)nessing. Viewers are not positioned as voyeurs or subjected to re-traumatization by witnessing traumatic events replayed on stage. This approach also grants agency to the art itself, creating an ethical space where it is not objectified or looked at but rather joined with.

The foundation of this investigation lies in the writings of Bracha L. Ettinger, Jill Bennett, and Diana Taylor, particularly Ettinger's concepts of the matrixial, carriage, and border-linking. These artists and scholars demonstrate a remarkable ability to expand and articulate responses to questions about how to create performance that remains compelling and truthful to the trauma experience without re-traumatizing.

This study will be of immense interest to students and scholars engaged in performance studies, art history, visual arts, feminist studies, theatre, film, performance art, postcolonialism, rhetoric, and writing. It offers valuable insights into the intersection of trauma, performance, and artistic expression, contributing to a deeper understanding of the human condition.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367644949