Per^FORM | at/within/beyond | BOUNDARY

Abstract

Per^FORM | at/within/beyond | BOUNDARY benchmarks a body of work which strives to reconcile intellectual and haptic knowledge, verbal and gestural communication, concrete and ephemeral notions of belonging. My experience living on Réunion Island, an Outer Seas Department of France in the Indian Ocean spurred my inquiry into the malleability of language and the transformation of identity. The importance of social acceptance manifested itself to me more vividly than I had ever before experienced, in large part due to the extremes of the circumstances: I felt distanced from the language, the mannerisms, the climate, the cuisine, etc. and in order to close that gap I felt myself stretched beyond comfort. The materials, processes, and performances of this installation have become analogies for the journey of the ethnographer. Good observation and faithful documentation are two of the ethnographer’s tools; the rest of the encounter can only be written through a willingness to experience vulnerability, resilience, and innovation. My personal journey towards acceptance illuminated the power struggles, injustices, and the creative resilience of the creole community I strove to become a part of.