#safetywork manual, 2018
durational performance, video (00:03:47), collaborative poem, #safetywork manual
#safetywork manual is a collaborative durational spoken word performance. Several male-identifying performers stand in the gallery space wearing nude tights and high heels for the duration of the piece with their bodies, their fatigue, and discomfort on display. Throughout the performance, they recite from a small paper pamphlet entitled #safetywork manual, a poetic instruction of the work that women do to protect themselves from sexual harassment and assault.
The content of the manual was curated by a group of Black female-identifying women that live, work, and study in the Orono community. Together they discussed and created the 15-foot banner that hangs in the space, accompanies the performance, and instructs women how to protect themselves against harassment, assault, or abuse based on the work that they do to protect themselves in the workplace, their homes, and localities. The aesthetic, orientation and language were solely determined by the female collaborators; they decided how best to articulate their safety work.
This particular collaborative approach could be adapted to any community. It is entirely reflective of the space in which it is created, and by the individuals who collaborate to bring it to fruition.
Authored by Eleanor Kipping; Collaborators: Kirsten Daily, Noelle Leon-Palmer, Priscilla Moncrieffe; Male Performers: Reed Gordon, Steve Norton, Will Young; Video Assistant: Nathan Dumas