We Are Eating And Being Born

Description

It is the way that I play with my objects in private that refines our role for the camera. It is building relationships with my collaborators that fuel our performances. It is the years of emotional and psychological labor I have performed for myself that facilitates the articulation of this essay. While I do not condone pressuring victims into speaking about what pains them, I do in full earnest encourage a relationship with language for its ability to advocate and empower. While I do not make light of tragedy, I do encourage play in the face of pain. My work is first and foremost, for me. I am contributing beauty and wisdom to the world by taking care of myself.

Matanah Betko's performance based practice is an exploration of how intimacy is communicated through the body and affected by socio-political hierarchies, personal histories, biases and assumptions. Often their performances, objects, and installations communicate a rejection of ideas that hold social authority like gender and class. Fascinated by the will to live and a willingness to die, Betko uses nonverbal communication through contact improv and dance, textile printing and construction, bronze and aluminum casting, steel fabrication and forging, soil building and flora to celebrate this life and all the misery and ecstasy included. By distorting the familiar, this work provokes uncertainty and wonder in order to disrupt our understanding of what we think we know about what we see.

Other Projects by Matanah Breza Betko