Lay With Me,
Live Perofrmance,
Marrickville Garage Gallery, 2015. 

Lay With Me, durational performance, 2 days - 15 hours.
Saturday and Sunday, 25-26th July, 2015.

Images by Vanessa Finder.

I lie on a bed and invite one participant at a time to lie next to me. I hold them for as long as they would like. They can choose how: holding hands, spooning, or lying side by side.

The work began at home, when carers came to get my grandparents ready for their day. It was a respite for me, because we had often been up the night before helping them. Different carers came each time, and being showered or changed by a stranger was a hard adjustment for my grandparents. I stayed in the bedroom next to theirs so I could hear if they needed anything. Hearing their experience, I saw how much of care is touch that is functional and rushed, and how rarely a body that is cared for is simply held.

Medicalised bodies are handled, moved, washed and examined, often kindly but always with a task in mind. This performance sets the task aside. It offers touch with no purpose beyond being present, and gives the participant control over how much contact there is and how long it lasts. It bridges the gap between the medicalised body and the body that is held.

The work is quiet and unhurried. The self here is not the subject or instigator of desire or sex. It is a person offering calm, warmth and time.



Video by Jane Polkinghorn