Double Self Double

I’m in Regina for the CAFAD Conference at the University of Regina. I was lucky to be able to catch Maria Hupfield and Merritt Johnson’s performance Double Self Double at the opening of the My Evil Twin exhibition curated by Timothy Long at the Mackenzie Art Gallery tonight.

As viewers we entered a space with two large white canvas bags on the floor. It soon became aparent through movement and then soft whistling that Maria and Merritt were inside. As the whistling calls between them grew in volume and frequency, they each eventually emerged and performed a series of stylized poses with folding wooden rulers, then went back into the bags (to change outfits), emerged again and repeated these actions, then to finally reemerge wearing what looked like some kind of home-made Tae Kwon Do outfits and began the second part of the performance. Again a series of ritualized and stylized movements got increasingly active and frantic and culminated with a cooperative move to help one another get a trophy from the top of a high wall.

The performance ended by them dragging their now inside out bags with colourfully embroidered interiors through the gallery and nailing them up onto the wall. It was a very emotionally cathartic and physically intense performance. I felt exhausted when it was over.