(Previoiusly titled ‘White Woman’)

Artist Statement, June 2021

“ It is with a heavy but expanding heart that I have cancelled/postponed the premiere season of my work ‘White Woman’ at Metro Arts June 9-12, 2021.

As collaborative dialogues surrounding the work grew to include more First Nations voices, feedback demonstrated that the purpose for the work, although rigorous and well-intentioned, was not in alignment with how the work was being received. Potential triggering impacts of the work to individuals in the BIPOC community outweighed the potential for a positive contribution to this complex conversation. Community respect and safety is my priority. I extend sincere apologies for any harm caused and remain open to discussion and feedback.

Huge respect and gratitude to the entire creative team who supported and guided this work and its research over the last 4 years. Thank you for your heartfelt, honest and tireless contributions. There is potential for this research to exist in the future, repurposed and after further development and consultation. For now, cancellation serves as an integral part of this process, offering important lessons to embed into the ethics of my on-going practice.“ 
JL


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About the work:

“My hope is that this work will illuminate the transformative potential of self inquiry and inspire viewers to investigate their own complicity within oppressive societal structures.

Through unpacking my lived experience of the duality between my white privilege and female oppression, this work gives inextricable visibility to the issue of 'white feminism' and looks to the body as a site for accountability, reclamation, curiosity and healing.” - Jenni Large


Systems of inequality exist far beyond statistics and analysis, they are deeply embedded within our bodies, nervous systems and cellular consciousness. A common approach to anti-racist work and gender equality is through cognitive strategy. Strategizing as a practice locates itself in the mind which reinforces white supremacist structures and allows people to stay removed, safe and unaccountable. Whereas acknowledging the body as the site for transformation helps us to dismantle oppressive structures beyond theory and into being.

‘White Woman’ uses the moving body to explore intersections of whiteness and femininity. The female body is placed at the centre of this vulnerable and challenging discourse to confront ingrained socio-political structures that allow race and gender inequalities to persist. Endeavouring to simultaneously break from white solidarity and reclaim femininity to contribute to conversations surrounding intersectionality in a way that creates lasting and positive change. Informed and guided by the revolutionary works of Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Resmaa Menakem, Bessel Van De Kolk, Layla F. Saad and Robin DiAngelo.

Born from a passion for self-inquiry as a tool for social transformation, this exposing and confronting solo performance draws from the artist’s experience identifying as a cis, heterosexual, white, woman not living with a disability - a regularly represented yet rarely examined and dismantled societal position.

Histories of the body are danced and repeated. Intimate acts of subversion, reclamation and surrender reveal hidden assumptions and the potential for transformation. Laced with satire, drenched in milk and surrounded by crumbling relics of self ‘White Woman’ positions the audience to consider, what is the white woman's role is now and what does it take to wake up from white oblivion?

How can/should white privilege be utilised to dismantle itself?

How can we see ourselves clearly so that we can act meaningfully?

And how are we complicit?


Image credits: 
Amber Haines & Jade Ellis