In/Body (Jaleesa Johnston, Sophia Wright Emigh, Nanda D’Agostino) marries technology and live movement to explore the cyclical nature of simultaneously invoking and healing ancestral trauma through the body. We began developing this piece at Future Forum, a media education program at Open Signal PDX.

We share an interest in the body as a site of memory and how generational trauma manifests in hidden ways within our flesh. Our work draws upon dance, performance art, interactive video programming, and participatory installation, to create a charged landscape choreographed for exploration. Our personal histories of generational trauma based in historic events, and group’s heterogeneity (in age, race, sexual orientation/identity, and career stage) has made our collaborative relationship particularly rich and productive.

The potential of video and installation to collapse and expand time and space locate In/Body within an interdisciplinary and experimental line of inquiry within the field of performance and movement. In/Body’s exploration of trauma, ancestry and cycles occurs through a process that reflects and embraces the unknown. Creating movement that responds to the unpredictable mixing of images through Isadora software, the limitless shift within the performance mirrors the ways in which we process traumatic events within daily life. In/Body changes constantly, and this fluidity reflects the complexities of memory and various ways of accessing collective and personal trauma through time and in the immediate experience of the body.

jaleesamjohnston.com

sophiawe.com

fernandadagostino.com