THESE HANDS I THOUGHT WERE MINE
A collaboration between Coco Karol, Sxip Shirey and Michaela Davies
These Hands I Thought Were Mine (demo) 2018.
Michaela Davies
These Hands I Thought Were Mine exposes the limitations of agency and questions the boundaries of the self through the performative realization of a system where embodied experience and sense of agency is disrupted and extended.
Documentation of performance at Arnhold Hall Glassbox Theater (NYC, 2018). Photos by Renee Morello
“These Hands I thought Were Mine was absolutely mesmerizing to witness. the performance was haunting and beautiful, so much so that I wept through the whole thing. It reminded me a lot of physical decline, something I see a lot in my work as a nurse. There was a sense of loneliness that I felt in the room during the first part of the performance and it settled itself firmly in my chest. There was something about being in a crowd of people and just watching as someone loses control of her body that caused me to feel sadness and distress. I felt like I wanted to help, somehow. And of course I couldn’t do that so I wept instead, thinking about the people I’d seen whose bodies and minds slipped away from them. Yet I was surprised by how graceful and beautiful many of the movements were. And it was that show of grace in the middle of something uncontrollable that turned out to be heartening for me. So a knot loosened in my chest and I wept with relief...” Leora Pederson 2018