Of Milk and Marble

This performance considered the ‘home’ as the first, gendered, architecture of the state. In the Republic of Ireland, women’s place within the home remains enshrined in constitutional law (1937); in the North, homes were frequently raided during the Troubles by the British army, permitted by the Special Powers Act (1922). The performance considered these double roles of the private domestic space, as a space of potential invasion but also holding the potential for secrecy and solidarity between women around the kitchen table. The performance was staged in a home that was subject to repeated raids by state forces.

Audience members booked by calling a mobile phone number and received directions to a meeting place. On the day of the performance, they were greeted by a woman in this house who took their names as a radio played recent news reports (Symphysiotomy survivors in Ireland; debate about abortion in the North of Ireland; forced sterilisation of women in American prisons) and pop songs from the 1980s. When the group was gathered, they left the house and walked to the venue together. The woman knocked on the door and audience members were led inside and asked to take a seat at the kitchen table. A performer (Louise Mathews) was seated at the head of the table. At most, ten audience members witnessed each performance, which involved voice, touch, sound and movement.