Orphan Series

In the Orphan Series of performances I continue my exploration of history and memory, presence and absence. It began as a personal response to the experience of being an adult orphan, making and responding to a life-sized rag doll, which was made using my body as a template. In more recent performances, I have invited the audience to participate by engaging in a conversation about their understanding of the meaning of being orphaned. In future performances I will be inviting further contributions through story and physically engaging in the creation of dolls.

Orphan 1 was offered for sale at Lot No, an auction of performance art curated by the Lionel Dobie Project, at fine art auctioneers, Capes Dunn. It did not reach its reserve price of £1000 and remains unperformed.

Orphan 2 was a durational performance at PlaySpace, a collaboration between Verb and The Heinrich Event, during which I made and interacted with a life-sized rag doll made from an outline of my body, drawn by artist Jenny Steele. Photo: Roger Bygott

Orphan 3 was a durational performance at Rogue Open Studios. Photo: Roger Bygott

Orphan 4 was awarded a developmental micro-bursary by Live at LICA.

Orphan 5 was filmed, edited and music was composed and performed at Filmonik: Manchester, and was first shown at the Filmonik Cabaret 2014. Photo Roger Bygott.

Orphan 6 was performed at Flat_Pak, an evening of live performance art at Toast, Manchester. Audience members were invited to discuss the word 'orphan' and to be the template for a new rag doll. Photo: Flat_Pak