A ‘cleansing ritual’ referencing gender norms and stereotypes through the depiction of archetypal female roles (e.g. the housewife, the witch, the maiden in distress, etc.) and the stigmas of femininity such as ‘female hysteria’, fragility, oversensitivity, drama, etc.. A candle-lit ritual for cleansing past memories and welcoming new beginnings; with bleak, hostile and fragile electronic ballads (These Hidden Hands, Berlin, Germany), the chanting of ‘spells’ in the German language, burning of herbs and spices (rose, rosemary and cinnamon), the smell of rosewater and pomegranate and the sweetness of traditional home-made Great British Custard, as my grandma used to make it.
The performance was created within the framework of ‘MemoryLab’ (November 2018) programme by ARTos Cultural & Research Foundation, Nicosia, Cyprus, where a selection of performance artists were asked to select one image (see above) from the programme's photo archive and create a short art performance.
