The Myth and The flesh is a solo piece created as part of an ongoing solitary research process in which I'm trying to challenge and interrogate the role and the autonomy of the actor as an independent artist, by examining possibilities to transform her/him into a whole creator.
As an artist I have always been interested in the meaning of reality and the nature of identity; referencing cultural symbols, religion and sexuality. In order to explore these concepts I returned to the same questions.
What is reality?
How do we perceive ourselves?
What does I Am / Myself mean?
What does memory do to us?
All of these questions embody the concept of The Personal Myth created in the space between Us and The Other. If that space is a question of perception, how do personal free associations work for the artist and for the viewer (the doer and the receiver)?
There are an infinite number of associations to a specific action if our perception is opened beyond our own reality, but how can we access them? How can we change our habits of looking, seeing and perception?
In The Myth and The Flesh all these questions are incarnated in the figure of a woman who interrogates her past through a solitary ritual in which she invokes the remembrance and memories of what it was and could have been her life.
The Myth and The Flesh
A solo performance by Marián Araújo
Taking as inspiration the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene and the myth created around her through religion, literature and painting, the story of a woman and her memory has been revealed.
A woman weaving a trail that leads her through the many doors of her inescapable memory. As she fleshes out her myth to reveal other selves, she invokes and confronts a sensuous innocent, a woman in the still pain of adulthood and an ancient pilgrim all bound by the touch of an impossible love for one that cannot be counted.
Dramaturgy by Marián Araújo from texts by Jeffrey Gormley, Paul Celan, The Song of Songs, Apocrypha texts, Julio Cortazar, Kahlil Gibran, Margarite Yourcenar and T.S. Eliot.
Traditional Sefardi, Cuban and Spanish songs.
Gey Pin Ang became my artistic collaborator during the creation of The Myth and The Flesh.
Aiden Condron assisted the first work-in progress montage in August 2007.
THE MYTH AND THE FLESH 2008 PERFORMANCES AND PRESENTATIONS
October 15th.
Kent University. Open presentation and talk to students as part of the British Grotowski Project and The European Research network activities. Canterbury, England
September 25th-27th.
The Back Loft at La Catedral Studios. Public performances. Dublin, Ireland
August 26th.
Galway Arts Festival. As part of MART (Media Art) festival program. Public performance. Galway, Ireland
June 12th.
Grotowski Center. Private presentation to a group of international theatre practitioners. Wroclaw, Poland
May 30th.
Teatro C-Videocentro. Theatre festival Soli tre donne. Public performance. Terni, Italy
March 15th.
Sala Ambigú. Public performance. Valladolid, Spain
Performance at The Galway Arts Festival 2008. Photos by Paul Regan
Photos by bohoe
