Rebecca Taylor-Shaw
MA Fine Art
My work addresses the idea of learning to fail, through repetition and displacement, looking at the themes of migration, folklore and circular time, as a means to navigate what it is to exist and the commonalities within existence. Fundamental to my practice is the embodiment of the storyteller, in relation to the itinerant performer.
Using failure as a means of experience, trauma and failure of meaning, I use improvisational performance pieces layered with narratives; both spoken and through singing. I aim to bring a lyrical sensibility to narration, exploring the space between the word and the voice. This liminal approach disorientates the viewer as the voice hovers; as does the travelling performer, neither as an accepted outsider nor insider of society.
‘Talking To You’ is an ongoing collaboration with artist Ruth Scott-Blackson, where two friends reconnect through a shared physical, repetitive, non-productive action. In our first iteration, we attempt to do a headstand. Our communication and connection is brokered through failure, sharing this continuous attempt to balance the body and mind in our daily lives.
