Barbed Wire

Description:

Barbed Wire was a live performance by Jamie McMurry informed by his childhood experiences of growing up on a rural farm. Issues of isolation, self-destruction, violence, and the need to impress people and work hard were recurring themes. 

The performance area was filled with objects from this environment like mailboxes in concrete bases, glass bowls, cornflakes, chocolate ice-cream, a spool of barbed wire and a county fair blue ribbon; with a backdrop of projected slow-motion video and audio from a country fair. 

As the performance progressed, McMurry’s actions became increasingly brutal—from breaking jars, to prying the mailboxes from their concrete bases. He built a picket fence around his neck and then disassembled it. In the final act, McMurray used barbed wire to attach the destroyed mailboxes to his ankles and dragged them offstage into Western Front’s back alley. 

McMurry’s physically dangerous and destructive performance actions sought to emulate the deviant behaviour of young boys. In addition to gender, the work drew attention to class experiences, invoking blue collar work and hard repetitive labour as ritualistic elements in the performance. 

Barbed Wire was presented as part of the Contemporary Ritual Series curated by Victoria Singh. 

Video documentation is available upon request.