I had the privilege of performing with a group of artists from Montreal for Charlottetown’s 2023 Art In The Open event. It was an emotional experience I will never forget. Below is a gently edited description provided by the artist.

She Cut Her Own Belly Open is first of all an activist piece aiming to expose the structures that oppress marginalized people. It centers on discourses that celebrate the oppressed person’s resilience and hopes to show the violent underside of this praise, as a serenade that binds them to a position where they become responsible, with their newly acquired status of “resilient”, for overcoming any future trauma imposed on them.

The performance itself will consisted of 5 musicians following Joliz Dela Peña across the city, while serenading her with a song that praises her resilience. Musicians praise, but never help Joliz, as she carries a weight that keeps her on the verge of exhaustion. The musicians embody the societal gaze that fixes marginalized people in a position of vulnerability.

Photo by Katie Smith via SaltWire