‘Take the Sixth Exit’ is a conceptual and immersive durational performance that explores the cyclical and paradoxical nature of trauma, misplaced loyalties, and the struggle for liberation from abusive relationships, the nature of which is left intentionally ambiguous.
The performance is structured around a repetitive autobiographical dialogue between the artist and the disembodied voice of her inner-child, who remains hidden in a skip filled with water throughout the performance. The artist kneels in front of the skip on a lawn encased by Armco crash barriers, some of which have been damaged beyond the point of reclamation in various car accidents. The artist, while covering her entire body in stoneware casting slip, tries to convince her six-year-old self to leave the psychological refuge of the self-imposed prison of the skip, in an attempt to shatter the psychological phenomenon of finding an overwhelming sense of safety in the familiar, even if it is harmful. The dialogue straddles the tension between safety and confinement, exposing the internal conflict of wanting to escape an abusive situation while being paralyzed by fear.
Throughout the performance, the artist breaks the fourth wall and directly addresses the audience. With this interaction, the artist creates a social contract between herself and the audience, in an attempt to blur the lines between performance and reality, drawing the audience into the emotional core of the narrative and heightening their sense of responsibility toward the artist.
‘He’, the pervasive and omnipresent threat often felt by victims of abuse, looms over the dialogue like a shadow. When his voice is heard for the only time in the dialogue, the artist’s inner child convinces the artist to join her in the freezing-cold water of the skip, on the empty promise that she will leave the skip with the artist when she deems it safe to do so. While in the skip, the artist washes off the stoneware casting slip, before returning to kneel in the same place where the performance began. As the dialogue restarts, the cyclical nature of the script reveals itself.
As the performance progresses through its cycles for 8 hours a day over six days, the repetitive dialogue gradually evolves, reflecting the arduous journey towards realization and empowerment. These ritualistic aspects of the performance; repeating dialogue until it becomes a chant, applying and then washing off the stoneware casting slip in rehearsed movements, underscore the cyclical nature of trauma, where the process of healing is continuous and fraught with setbacks, despite the inherent desire for purification and healing.
On the 6th July 2024, on the sixth day of the performance, after the artist performed for six hours, the artist manages to convince her six-year-old self to leave the skip and take the sixth exit in an act of symbolic cleansing and acceptance that accentuates the necessity of the collective support crucial for healing and recovery. The artist, who had intended to perform naked for the duration of the performance but was prevented from doing so for reasons of health and safety beyond her control, leaves the skip naked, holding the hand of a six-year-old actor. For the first time in the performance, she crosses the Armco crash barriers and is met by the welcome embrace of her partner in the artist duo, ‘The Queen of Pentacles’, whom she had previously swapped lives with in the durational performance ‘Being You Being Me Being Me Being You’.
For the purposes of the Arte Laguna Prize exhibition, a single cycle of the durational performance can be performed, which would last for 10 minutes.
