Premiering as an evening-length work in 2010, IRIS began in 2007 as an experiment, a project with a commitment to keep searching until something is discovered. IRIS is being developed through work in progress showings, residencies and equipment borrowed from Digital Performance Institute.

photos: JAHMANI PERRY

In the fall of 2008, bringing a new hard drive containing all my visuals to a residency at
White Oak, FL, my goal was to explore the visuals for IRIS. When the harddrive failed within 24 hours, I turned to photos taken by my new point+shoot camera of two stunning animals at the conservency there, a cougar and giraffe; I created backgrounds using the patterns of their furcoats in Final Cut and Isadora. In Mikhail Baryshnikov’s studio, a wonderful situation emerged; once projected, a new aspect of my character was discovered. IRIS unbanded her hair and took off several pieces of clothing.

It was several months later when I had an idea what to do with this aspect of IRIS.
She was set in the dark, lit by a flashlight, her body moving in raw and playful ways, at times projecting shadows on the wall. She became the primitive internal IRIS who is lit by the awkward and confused external IRIS. Performed at showings in February and May, IRIS moved around in the dark with her large pile of large bras; near the end, she emerges into light, as the video projection appears, a flashing light evolving into IRIS’s window.

The piece continues to develop, with a question of how to examine and integrate the world of IRIS in the dark with IRIS in her bedroom, as she prepares for her date. IRIS will be shown in progress in the Fall, 2009 and Spring 2010 at Dixon Place. Again I am grateful for the support Hal and DPI has given my project, and look forward to continuing this relationship.