ForCC

In December 2022, amidst processing my grandmother's news of her returning cancer diagnosis, I began to understand how both her and my mother's existence are foundational constituents of my Self understanding. I found a box of their collective childhood handkerchiefs that winter. As a former model and lifetime seamstress, my grandmother had a strong relationship with garments. The dress seen in the video is handmade from muslin and cotton with embroidered on handkerchiefs. In the snow, I went to the hills of Rochdale [where, as an 18 year old, she first moved by herself into the Seven Sisters] and performed this somatic movement piece; once, in my normal clothes, and a second time (attempting repetition of the series of movements based on muscle memory) in the Handkerchief dress. This work references 'somaesthetics' -- the bodily reflection of our internal landscapes, using somatic movement to heal psychologically and emotionally. The audio is a poem written about and for her, in reflection of the ways we carry those that have come before us; attempts to reckon with grief and death. It was set to music by a trusted friend.