2024

Cotton crochet

I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted explores the role of a fragmented body navigating multiple realities through an on-going durational performance that involves counting, handwork, postures, rhythms, and gestures of tying knots and weaving. Peggy Phalen proposed that performance’s essence is in the memory that remains, its trace, its absence, but Bradford Styrbicki’s performance created a presence, an artifact, a mark that carries the personal and political resonance that Phalen sought. The work illustrates how embodied resistance can serve as a form of dance, transcending conventional boundaries of performance. By capturing the choreography inscribed on the body, the work offers a unique perspective on the intersection of movement, discourse, and expression.