The Performer

The Performer developed through the artist's response to the destruction and theft of ceramic works during the exhibition On the Edge (2026). Influenced by the Bhagavad Gita's reflections on detachment from the results of action, the installation questions how artistic labour becomes intertwined with attachment, loss, vulnerability, and personal identification. Rather than focusing on the missing objects themselves, the work shifts attention toward what remains after action, performance, and bodily presence have already passed.

The installation incorporates garments, shoes, and personal belongings used during live performances connected to the artist's ceramic practice. Some fabrics remain visibly stained with clay and pigment, transforming ordinary clothing into residual evidence of labour, movement, exhaustion, and emotional exposure. Suspended between archive, dressing area, storage system, and memorial structure, the installation exists in a constantly shifting state between activation and absence.

During live performance, the garments temporarily disappear from the installation and return onto the performer's body, allowing the work to oscillate continuously between physical presence and residual trace. When the performance ends, the clothing re-enters the installation carrying new marks, folds, and material memories generated through action and repetition.

The empty garments retain the physical outline of movement while simultaneously suggesting disappearance, impermanence, and the unstable boundary between person and residue. Rather than documenting performance directly, The Performer holds onto what the body leaves behind, reflecting on how action, memory, and emotional weight continue to persist materially even in absence.