The Art in Odd Places (AiOP) 2017 Festival, SENSE, is a little over a month away! In the time leasing up to this year’s festival, we will be releasing posts written by this year’s artists to give you a better sense of their projects and what they hope to accomplish during the festival. Below is our first post but be sure to keep an eye out for the other ones all through this month!
Name: Linda Mary Montano
Title of project: WE ARE ALL HUNGRY
How have you chosen to interpret the theme “SENSE?”
Taste
Why do you believe 14th Street is a compelling site for creative response?
Food is so expensive. We eat to fill our bodies, minds, fears, desires and not our soul hunger. The poor suffer from no access to good and fresh food. We all suffer from fear that drives us to overeat. I will fast for 3 days and then be fed by a “caregiver” under a sign, WE ARE ALL HUNGRY. This will also access my current theme of aging and the possibility of ending up in a nursing home and having to be fed one day.
What reactions are you hoping to draw from the public?
In India, people feed the person celebrating their birthday by “feeding” them pieces of cake or a sweet. It is very very emotional to watch. Being fed triggers issues of maternal warmth-or not-, issues of breastfeeding-or not, issues of not having enough food-or too much, issues of anorexia /bulimia. I hope this performance will have healing energies for the audience, myself and my “caregiver.”
Montano will be assisted by two performance “caregivers” who will feed her: LAURA BYRNE and CHRISTINE FINLEY.
