Ready to Hand,
Maintenance Performance,
Woodford Academy, Residency, 2017

Knežević cleans, gardens, and undertakes everyday labor in her performance Ready to Hand at Woodford Academy. The echoes are of stories and lives that have passed, but aren’t concrete in the archive. The repetitive nature of domesticity is highlighted through the space and its history of maintenance during its time as an inn and a place of education.

Wearing her grandfather’s clothes, she imparts her own autobiography. Her grandfather, an immigrant to Australia, was a farmer in his homeland and maintained their family home: everything outdoors was his responsibility—taking care of the garbage, securing the house, and growing vegetables in the garden.

Many people have passed through Woodford Academy. This work seeks to acknowledge those stories, particularly the hard work of the women who labored to survive and to provide a warm, nurturing space.

Performing acts of cleaning, Maintenance Performance, Woodford Academy, 2017. Images by Anthony Gattari.