Slipping Into Slipping Away

Description:

While in residence at Western Front, Chipo Chipaziwa presented a performance that coincided with the launch of her artist book My Mother My Home. 

In My Mother My Home, Chipaziwa remediates her past performances and interrogates the ever-pervasive white gaze on Black life, art, and being by proposing alternative methodologies of archiving performance art without any photographic depictions of the body. While in residence, Chipaziwa furthered this line of inquiry by examining the representation of Black performance artists in Western Front’s archive. Slipping Into Slipping Away explored these intersections in Chipaziwa’s research—remixing content from the publication while reflecting on her experience within a front-of-house role at Western Front. 

The performance began as audience members arrived in the foyer. After having their tickets scanned, they were directed to the reception desk where Chipaziwa was positioned to manage coat check. As the audience settled into the space, Chipaziwa gradually transformed everyday actions associated with front-of-house responsibilities—light cleaning, organizing print materials, turning on gallery signage—into a score for performance. Over the course of the thirty-minute work, Chipaziwa performed ten sets of actions that reflected on memory, legibility, liminal encounters, and her experience with psychoanalysis. Engaging with the furniture and architecture of the foyer and stairwell, Chipaziwa played with the power dynamic between the artist and the audience, the art worker and the visiting public to trouble traditional audience-performer relations. 

Slipping Into Slipping Away was presented over three nights to a capacity of thirty audience members. 

Presented with support from the Canada Council for Arts and BC Arts Council, and mentorship from Justine A. Chambers and Autumn Knight.

Video documentation is available upon request.