Follow Y/our River

Ugly Duck – Follow Y/our River (2025) explores gender transition, place-based memory, and the bureaucratic architectures that govern identity. Developed through site-specific research along East London’s River Lea, the work draws parallels between the river’s continual transformation and the embodied liminality of trans becoming. Informed by my HIV+ status, the performance incorporates medical documentation and personal text to address visibility, stigma, and survival within institutional systems of care. Using sewn photographic prints, body scans, archival textiles, found instruments, and field recordings, the work unfolds as a tactile and sonic ritual. Voice, sound, and gesture activate an evolving archive shaped by loss, care, and reclamation, creating a temporary space of queer resistance where transition is held, heard, and remembered. The work was presented as a 50-minute performance and installation at Ugly Duck.