My work contrasts the hidden labour of cleaning with a performance style influenced by my experience as a drag artist and learning to pole dance. Cleaning becomes hidden labour due to matters of class and patriarchy within the home, but these crowd captivating performances are also often hidden due to conservative moral panic. I am interested in these different scenarios in which the queer body is positioned as the abject and how the community has reclaimed this and celebrates what is filthy.
I create costumes for my performances which require the whole body’s involvement in the task, by removing any handles they may usually have to reduce the separation between the dirt and the body. My movements exaggerate the strenuous, repetitive nature of the tasks and how they flow through my body.
Inspiration for my performances also comes from past jobs I have had in bars, which have suppressed my disgust for the abject, as I would frequently clean other people’s bodily fluids, often without the proper disposal kits. It’s from experiences like this and similar that I am also working on a long term project with a group to establish a co-operative, queer venue in Edinburgh.
