Inspired by a scene in Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir The Woman Warrior, Anida’s performance includes inscriptions written onto her back along with the gesture of washing them away. Embodying the archetype of the universal mother/woman warrior figure who nurtures despite witnessing violence and atrocities, the artist sits exposed and faceless. In this performance, her body is transformed into a palimpsest where histories are inscribed, layering one moment over another. Referencing the potency of historical memory, no moment once inscribed is ever quite erasable. In the performance, she sits covered under a cascading head of hair in which only her back is exposed. Text pulled from her family’s memories and histories related to Cambodia are inscribed in ink onto her back. As a result of the act, ink and water drip onto her back and stain the dress. When the gestures end and the body leaves the installation, detached roots, a disembodied dress, and faint traces of a performed history remain. The work examines the cultural and emotional resonance of place and memory in relationship to personal histories of violence

Conceived, Written and Performed by Anida Yoeu Ali
Scribe performed by Alycia Scott
Garment by Anida Yoeu Ali and Mac Horn
Documentation by Masahiro Sugano