REGENESIS 

A Victory Grrrls performance with Lucy Madeline and Niomi Fawn

"Victory Grrrls perform REGENESIS, a pedagogic performance included in the Cryin' Out Loud exhibition in the Muñoz Waxman Gallery. Before or after the performance, please stop in to visit the first annual Santa Fe Zine Fest in the CCA's Living Room Galleries.

About the performance: 

Niomi Fawn and Lucy Madeline of Victory Grrrls present a two-part performance that uses ritual and pedagogy to perform decolonization of the female body. REGENESIS imagines the biblical punishment of Eve as a metaphor for colonization of knowledge and history--the origin of patriarchal oppression of women via control of the body. Eve is sentenced to bodily suffering and sexual subordination. She is deprived of information about herself and the world. This narrative is relevant to contemporary experiences of woman-bodied people, who face legislation that seeks to regulate their bodies and sexuality, widespread lack of sexual pleasure, and objectifying media.

Surrounded by red apples, Fawn begins the ritual of initiation by re-enacting the moment that Eve eats the forbidden fruit. Instead of being punished, we offer an alternative ending where knowledge is shared: following the performance, apple slices are served to the audience as communion. As the slices are eaten, Madeline teaches the audience about the four phases of the menstrual cycle and the physiological changes that take place.

Understanding education as an act of liberation, REGENESIS asks: what if learning about our bodies frees us from oppressive systems of misogyny? What if re-telling false mythos helps us weave whole pictures of ourselves, our history, and our world?"