'The Body as Archive': Intercultural Performance and Postcolonial Heritages (2020)

Postgraduate Research Project. Awarded Distinction.

Abstract:

At this particular moment in time, with the recently renewed activities of the Black Lives Matter campaign, an increased understanding of how colonial history informs the current realities of racism and inequity is an urgent endeavour. History is being re-evaluated and the historical disequilibrium of the archive is being exposed. ‘The Body as Archive’: Intercultural Performance and Postcolonial Heritages seeks to draw attention to alternative histories and alternative ways of accessing history, through the body. Drawing from the concept ‘the body as archive’ and theories of postcolonialism and intangible cultural heritages, this research project seeks to explore the works of culturally diverse performance artists, Faustin Linyekula, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Tanya Lukin-Linklater. From cultures that are marginalised within western, Eurocentric perspectives-Linyekula as African Congolese, Okpokwasili as Nigerian American, and Lukin-Linklater as Alutiiq, Indigenous Native American - these artists’ illuminate and resist the living reality of colonialisationin their body-based performative works. Inspired by Tate Modern’s exhibition Our Bodies, Our Archives (2020), which was unprecedently cancelled due to thecurrentCoronaviruspandemic, this research project seeks tohonourthe intercultural dialogue thatwasset to take place. Furthermore, by critically analysing the recorded live performances of Linyekula and Okpokwasili and the video installations of Lukin-Linklater, this research project seeks to draw attention to the timely significance of these artists and their works’ in negotiating the deconstruction of colonial discourse, asserting self-determination, and respecting alternative epistemologies.

The Body as Archive Interculutral Perfor.

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I am open for discussions, feedback, and presenting this research project.