“Still Life” explores the body’s ephemerality and considers its capacity to interact, impact, and even alter its surroundings through an exploration of deliberately slow movements and carefully constructed shapes. Through this process, I translate principles of classical still life painting—temporality, materiality, reflections on mortality—into contemporary dance, photography, and textile.  The piece highlights the resilience and vigor of the human form, navigating the delicate balance between vulnerability and strength. As a whole, "Still Life" asks us to reassess our understanding of the relationships between bodies, objects, and the spaces containing them.

The piece immerses the audience in an opulent and intimate universe in the form of an installation that is centered on a group of large pieces of red fabric on which oversized images of different still life compositions I created and photographed in my studio have been printed. The installation sets the stage for the performance of five female dancers, who over the next hour create sculptural movements with intentional slowness. During that time, in a continuous motion where movements are at times nearly imperceptible, the dancers embody poses inspired by the objects appearing in the images such as crumbling pastries, blooming peonies, and cut fruits. The measured pace, paired with the luscious textiles, crafts an environment that is sensual and transcendent for both the performers and the audience. In turn, this close-looking experience brings the audience to reflect on the nature of transformation and reconsider the relationship between life, creation, and the velocity that dictates their daily rhythms. 

“Still Life” is also guided by a deep exploration of the representation of female artists and “feminine” spaces or lack thereof in the history of Western art. In the codified Hierarchy of Genres established by the French Academy in 1669, still life was deemed to be the least important of the genres. This, paired with the fact that women were overwhelmingly confined to painting household items and denied access to living models, marked a steadier number of female artists working in the still life genre, leaving us with a fascinating tresor trove of female interiors. In the same vein, Western art dismissed objects falling under the broad umbrella of “crafts,” such textiles and decorative handiworks. Regarded as women's work, they were considered a lower form of creativity and not worthy of receiving the label of "art."

Turning these historical realities on their heads, the piece brings still life imagery into a contemporary context. Displacing it from its traditional canvas  onto large pieces of fabric that are animated by female dancers, “Still Life” acts as a reclamation of the artistic genre and its makers. The piece questions and reimagines artistic and social norms through a multidisciplinary approach and demonstrates an unwavering refusal to remain within a predetermined framework of both time and space.