Alexandra Caprara’s MFA Defence: Ultra Violets

Friday, October 6, 2023 | 3:30 PM
Room 4350 – SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver

Ultra Violets is a performance piece devised through a personal study of how queer becoming and feminine subjectivity intersect within a close study of plant history and life. Through a collective study of various house plants, the choreography and design of this piece were devised from the ways these plants move, grow, and respond to light- specifically, violet light. This intersection of queer life and plant histories manifests within a design that is part greenhouse, part underground dance club, two spaces that enable conditions for growth and becoming for plants and queer individuals. With a focus on working with light and haze as an architectural element, this work explores what it means to be seen; to abstract perspectives of our bodies and space through the use of disco aesthetics, queer ecology, and integrated design. In doing this, Ultra Violets depicts the nuances of joy, grief, and celebration in our process of becoming oneself.

Key words: queer ecology, feminine subjectivity, queer becoming, disco aesthetics, devised performance, design lead creation