Sleep and Fairy Tales, 2019

Sleep and Fairy Tales was created for Dancing at the Edge of the World at z2o Sara Zanin Gallery in 2020. Appropriating the title of Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1989 non-fiction collection, Dancing at the Edge of the World, this group exhibition envisioned a futuristic, alternative world where humankind speaks what Le Guin calls the ‘mother tongue’ (the language that encourages relations, networks and exchanges) instead of the forked ‘father tongue’ (the language of power spoken by ‘Civilised Man’ who sees the rest of society in a terminal dichotomy of subject/object, self/other, male/female, mind/body, active/passive, Man/Nature, dominant/submissive).

The artwork stood in the centre of the exhibition as a ‘drawing in space’. It was activated through performance by Florence Peake and Eve Stainton who performed a volcanic duet, using the intimacy of their lesbian polyamorous relationship to elevate the marginalised affection, sexuality, power and energy of the sensual and visceral queer body.