Phalanges 2014 (2015, 2020)
Performance | Latex gloves | City Centre, Peterborough/Norwich
Supported by Arts Council England
Performance | Latex gloves | City Centre, Peterborough/Norwich
Supported by Arts Council England
Phalanges, a term for the long bones in hands and feet, derived from the Greek word Phalanx, a military formation, put a finger up at a society premised on order and cleanliness. Toes are echoed in the abundance of fingers reducing the hierarchical order of the body as a protruding phallic-like surface points to patriarchal power and pandemic problems. Each costume is composed of around 1000 mass-produced latex gloves, which contrasts sharply with the laborious hand-made production methods of sewing, inflating and tying. Individuals become anonymous under the surface, allowing them to behave outrageously and out of character. Through improvised performance, the clinical, protective gloves wobble in an infectious, animated manner, shedding through movement. The everyday becomes ominously unfamiliar – and the modern hand semi-monstrous.
Film: Rosie Cooper