The question of political economy in the arts offers a way into a creative-critical reflection on the challenges associated with navigating identity labels and living a freelance artist’s life pressured to conform to institutional expectations particularly within the UK’s art scene. This piece is a personal account of a body resisting becoming a symbol, of staying conscious of our socio-political landscape and the ongoing Israeli settler-colonialism. I draw on examples from three of my artworks: the collaborative project From the Lips to the Moon, ongoing nights of longform improvised music and poetry in London; In Observance, a performative research and intervention at the United Nations in Geneva, involving archival documents related to Palestine; and Mishandled Archive, which involves dispersing family photographs and documents in public places, accompanied by daily dances. Through these works, this essay asks: How can historical evidence of imperialism and settler-colonialism be absorbed or resisted within the body? How can we transform loss into movement and togetherness? How late is too late as mounds of rubble and bodies multiply?
Articles by Tara Fatehi
Tara Fatehi is a performer, writer and multi-disciplinary artist based in London. Working across voice, movement, text and media, Tara’s practice engages ambiguity, mistranslation, playfulness, disjunction, and unfinishedness. Tara is the co-founder of the music and poetry show From the Lips to the Moon. Her book Mishandled Archive, an account of her 365 days artwork, is published by LADA (2020). She has performed at V&A Museum, Southbank Centre, Nottdance, Sophiensæle and Royal Academy of Arts among others. Tara holds a PhD from University of Roehampton and teaches on performance, writing, theatre, and artistic research at various universities. She was the first-ever resident artist at the United Nations Archives at Geneva (2021).