About this Event
Temporality of Survival: A Portrait of Cancer is a new autobiographical work by Caitlyn Swett that dares to depict an experience of cancer through multi-media performance.
"Cancer is a rare and still scandalous subject for poetry; and it seems unimaginable to aestheticize the disease." – Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor
Inspired by writer-survivors Audre Lorde, Anne Boyer, Walela Nehanda, and Caitlin Breedlove, Caitlyn Swett’s upcoming performance adds her experience of cancer to the slim record of brutally-honest accounts told by survivors themselves.
As cancer, and its treatment, is an immersive, multi-sensory encounter, the performance utilizes movement/embodiment, soundscape, and layered imagery to portray this deeply personal and nuanced experience. Facing her personal journey head-on while confronting cultural attitudes about cancer, Caitlyn’s latest performance gives voice to what goes unspoken, seeking to metabolize trauma while providing a poetic context for audiences to understand what a living experience of illness and mortality is like from the inside.
The May 11, 7PM showing at Shadowbox Studio will share the work in-progress.
Collaborators:
Brian Howe (video collage/projection), Sarah Ingel (Costume Design), Zap McConnell (Dramaturgy), Julia Pleasants & Shannon Drake (soundscape contributors)
Huge Thanks:
This work would not be possible without the generous practices of Culture Mill: the gifting
of their studio space and their investment and belief in artists and the stories they tell.
This project is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department
of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts
and Durham Arts Council, local grants administrator.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Shadowbox Studio, 2200 Dominion Street, Durham, United States
USD 0.00
