Dirty History is a sensual representation of sexual memory through ritual, soil, & time. The performance—consisting of ritual-like movements and confessional poetry—takes place along an expanse of compost. I slowly unearth a history by working the soil and divulging memories, hoping to break down the performed ritual. For about an hour, I invite the audience to sit with me in this bed of earth.

The amount of soil used will be dictated by the dimensions of the space. For my MA Degree performances, I used upwards of 9,000L of multipurpose compost.  This provided enough coverage to allow the rustic wooden seating to be placed within the installation, which enabled the audience to be in the space with me.

Future circumstances & spaces will change, of course, but the following must not:

• lots & lots of soil
• random wooden seating, i.e. chairs, benches, wood planks, etc.
• audience freedom to wear or not wear shoes & socks

Dirty History is open to context & site-specific variation, which may negate those above stipulations.

For further information about the development of this project, please refer to the Process page.

All photographs above were from a 12th September shoot with Lesley Taylor of Infinity Photographic.