Performance ART

As a performance artist, Sam often she falls in love with a song and sees herself singing it wearing an outfit to create a particular universe. Wearing her original outfits, this universe is then shared with the audience. Lately, during her studies at UCA Farnham Fine Art, she experimented in various ways with her performances giving them a different caliber. From creating soundscapes to experimenting with improvised sounds and movement, Sam will never stop to amaze her audiences.

Videos Performance Art:

Casta Diva , performed live at the Watts Gallery, Guilford May 2024

Casta Diva is a song from the Opera “Norma”. The story tells about The Gauls wanting their queen Norma to declare war on the Romans, who have been oppressing them. She assuages the people’s anger and convinces them that this is not the right time to revolt. She asserts that the Romans will eventually fall by their own doing. It is at this point Norma sings “Casta Diva”, a prayer to the moon goddess for peace.

For a flower to bloom, it will need a peaceful creative environment, and love, care, protection and devotion. Once in bloom, the gift of its beauty needs to be cherished and should not be taken for granted. Just as with the Peace Lily, who symbolizes growth, peace, and harmony, this display represents the fragile, and precious balance there within.

Using repetition to create the paper lilies gave the process of making a space to digest, meditate and reflect. It helped to build not only the visual part of the work but also provided a deeper meaning to the artwork, hiding a more philosophical and conceptual identity. The repetitive activity created a sense of unity, continuity, rhythm and harmony, with a final realization that each Peace Lily connected to the thousands of people with the same need; to find peace, harmony and self-worth within the domestic. With a focus on those with a history of domestic violence, this became a crucial message that needed to be shared. The plant carrying the name of peace, and being a domesticated ornament now gained its true meaning.

Within this unusual performance-art piece, an image of a woman dressed in a black dress that is stuck to the wall is portrayed. Her face, apart from her mouth, is covered. Sounds that are released accentuate the stubborn bodily movements and create a discomforting atmosphere.
This seven-minute-long performance begins with breathing, stamping of hands and feet, and vocal sounds that are used to enter a trance-like state. With the attempt to break loose from the wall, the restricted movements and vocalized sounds express an internal agony followed by an emotional release. With the shamanic qualities of this performance, the creation of a trancelike state makes the watcher feel on edge and uncomfortable. The process of release t is now shared in public and can be seen as emotional digestion. Within our society there is no emphasis on digesting emotions and certainly not in public. We are taught to use therapy or deal with things in private, or not deal with it at all. As the result of carrying stored traumatic experiences or emotional blockages with us, some, for the rest of their lives, hidden behind the usual acts and deeds, until they start creating disease or mental health problems. By allowing to surface these hidden emotional blockages we can cleanse and free ourselves and create mental and physical health. Easily compared with food, emotions too need to be digested. The process of eating takes maybe 10 minutes. For it to be digested it takes 72 hours. The same counts for our emotions. Small actions or encounters might take months to be emotionally digested. Emotional as well as physical digestion nourishes and makes us grow, mentally, physically, and intellectually. Just as with a plant, to grow, and flower it needs nourishment and care, love/ light, and kindness. Growth is constant transformation, which indicates we need to stay flexible and accept changes by letting go and reprogramming.
Off the Wall shares this intimate journey. It expresses the attempt to break free from the restrictions of the female, domestic role that is expected from women in our society. From generation to generation, we are taught to behave, dress, and act in a certain way, repeating the same patterns as our ancestors. To be able to break free from those patterns one needs courage and strength and not to lose faith in the process.

With voice, sound and song lay down an oral improvised platform. Then, to accentuate this improvised universe, an outfit and dance-like movements will help to create a painting, using mud and my body and clothing as a paintbrush. The audience is invited to participate by making sounds and movements.
The challenge and freedom that performance art offer open a wide range of possibilities that are rarely used or absent on stage with the usual musical performances as we know them, where songs are written with a certain length and structure. Here words and sound are improvised to create a trancelike universe and become a platform where the subconscious can surface and be expressed, depending on the moment of its creation.
The performance “Sweet Summer Sweat” can be seen as a tool for creating art that is dependent on the moment. The audience is invited to witness and participate in turning an empty canvas into a painting created with mud, movement, and sound.

Ah Mio Cor, performed at Chichester UNI 2023