INTREPID III - (1:58min Excerpt from INTREPID Trilogy)

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INTREPID III
August 12, 2018
1:58 minute EXCERPT from 15:27 minute ritual performance; performed on Martha’s Vineyard, Oak Bluffs, at Historic Inkwell Beach
Video Documentation by David Welch

“I am I am I am, I surrender,” charcoal on 9 × 9' paper; video documentation: David Welch; editing: David Welch; voiceover, written and spoken by Phylicia Ghee; sound engineer: Evan Kornblum

About INTREPID:

INTREPID is a ritual performance series in which I am using my body to move in a spiral formation while writing a series of repeated affirmations in charcoal on a 9 by 9' sheet of paper. This ritual uses movement and repetition to build new framework in the brain and initiate new neural connections. The vision for INTREPID came during a time when I was studying dance, neural plasticity, alchemy, and subatomic particle collisions. When subatomic particles collide, they form spirals. The spiral is also an important family symbol for my grandfather. It is found in the double helix of our DNA and can be found in nature, both molecularly and galactically.

A fire in my apartment three years prior to the first performance of INTREPID opened my eyes to exploring charcoal as a tool and as a residue of fire. Charcoal not only carries with it the combustive, alchemical energy of fire into the work, but it also serves as a ritual tool and purifier of water (our bodies being up to 60% water). The affirmations I write in charcoal are transcribed onto my skin.

I have performed INTREPID four times over the past five years. My body, never leaving the paper, slowly erases the words of the affirmations I am writing, and they begin to cover my skin. In this way, I am stepping into my intentions in a very literal way. What I write is ultimately erased, although not completely. The beginning of the spiral of affirmations can still be read faintly. This performance challenges me not only to accept the impermanence of life but also to find and connect with that which is ever present, can never be erased, and never dies. Along with my affirmations, the 9 × 9' paper holds my fingerprints and the unique markings made by my body. This paper holds a story of interconnectedness. A story of who I was and who I became. It is a portrait of myself, my ancestors, and the larger whole.

INTREPID III takes place on Martha’s Vineyard at Inkwell beach in Oak Bluffs, which has a rich African American history. During the performance the Inkwell Polar Bears communed in a circle in the water chanting and praying (not pictured in the film). The polar bears are a large group of all ages (originally a small group of black women and men) that have met on this particular beach every summer morning since 1946 to connect, commune, and pray during the morning sunrise hours.

INTREPID III was performed at Art on the Vine: Pressure Points on Martha's Vineyard, and served as closure for INTREPID 0 (2014), INTREPID I (2015) and INTREPID II (2015).

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