IN THE FLESH was the first full-length work of the Pig Baby Series begun in 1984 in collaboration with Bob Raymond. The works in the series explored the cyclical nature of life, using images of life in death, and death in life.
IN THE FLESH was the first full-length work of the Pig Baby Series begun in 1984, in collaboration with Bob Raymond. The works in the series explored the cyclical nature of life, using images of life in death, and death in life. In this piece, we focused on the myth of creation, and how humans came to be. Portions of different myths and fairy tales were read, each with a different explanation of the beginnings of humankind. How life is made – how things are brought to life – was the underlying question. But it is complicated by the recognition that everything contains both life and death at the same time.
The performance involved a series of ritual activities using various natural materials such as meat, fish, flour and dirt, fruits and vegetables, handfuls of hair and bones. Many of the images hovered on the line between humor and horror, creating a disturbing tension. There was recorded audio, slide projections of abstract light images, and a synthesized drone that advanced and receded throughout.
During the performance I made bread laced with hair, which was baked in a small oven. When I took it out and broke it apart, the smell of the burnt hair mingled with the smell of fresh baked bread permeated the room. Meanwhile, Bob sliced meat and fish which was equally aromatic. Finally, we assembled the Pig Baby by sewing and pinning the meat and fish onto a skeleton of bones, singing as we worked. At the end of the performance Pig Baby danced on the table as Bob and I emptied the bathtub of bones to stand in it, exultant.
Songs and conversations were improvised out of the moment as we worked, including such questions as:
Initial performances of In the Flesh were at Mobius in Boston, Massachusetts, USA in February and March of 1986. Subsequent performances took place at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in September 1986.
