Catch

A performative work made on the South downs in 2023. 

I'd made a headpiece from amaranthus seed heads which were grown in my garden. Amaranth is an ancient grain which can symbolise death and mortality but also unfading love. It's other name is love-lies-bleeding which my late husband found amusing - “very Oscar Wilde” he used to say.

‘Catch’ is a song by the Cure, a band beloved of my late husband and this music inspired my performative dance in memorium of all the fun and lightness of our life together. I was inspired by Martha Graham's early 20th century performance ‘lamentation’ which expresses grief through a seated dance; her figure constricted by a column of fabric  which she moves and stretches to its limits. 

The amaranthus headpiece had a life of it's own with it's bouncy pink frothy seed tentacles. It completely covered my face forcing thoughts inward, a place to hide and to dream.

The performance lasts as long as the song. At the end I disassembled the head piece, made ink from the amaranth and used it to write the lyrics of the song.