Break my bones

About This Project

Description from Jordan McKenzie –

Break My Bones is a durational performance that tests the limits of authority and our compliance within it as well as representations of masculinity. In an empty space the performer stands undressed and to attention, visited by an aggressive figure of authority who enters the space (unannounced) and verbally abuses him, coming up close to his face, spitting at him, ridiculing his physique and the way he looks.

The authority figure attempts to goad and break the performer, challenging him to lose his control and self-discipline and succumb to the violent assault. In this sense it becomes a dangerous game of abuse but also one of compliance and resistance.

The title is taken from the saying ‘Sticks and stones’ and looks at how words do actually break bones, the violence that is done to ‘othered’ bodies in this age of neo-liberalism, Trump and the swing to the right. On the one hand these figures spreading hate are completely farcical and cartoonish, Trump, Farage, Johnson etc but they also have the power to affect our lives in real and terrible ways. For this reason the ‘abuser’ will also have a large pair of foam hands on so that the gesticulation and insults are at turns comical, absurd, exaggerated and frightening….

Duration – 15 Minutes

Photo Credit – Greg Viet