220 South Wabash, Chicago
Soft forms in hard places, cloth as kinetic surface, and the body as architectural facade are recurring themes in my work with interdisciplinary artist and performer Erica Mott. This image from May 2010 is our first public study for Winged Victory of Samothrace. Performing in an empty Wabash storefront for Chicago's Pop Up Art Loop, I draped Erica in real time before a small audience as we discussed notions of victory and depictions of the female form in relation to war. Erica became a live replication of the iconic Greek statue, modeled as if taken from the prow of a ship.
I continue my collaboration with Erica Mott this Summer as costume designer on her performance The Victory Project. Developing costumes in close relation to her choreographic process, I'm attending rehearsals at St Luke's Church in Chicago to observe the energetic techniques, physical structures, and improvised sketches composed with the five dancers who make up her cast. There's continual discussion in the studio on bodily containment and expansion, energetic and physical arrivals, and finding the voice at landing.
The Victory Project premieres July, August, and September of 2011 in Chicago.
Our second public study for Winged Victory.
July 2010, Dearborn Street, Chicago
all photos by Day Still
