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Lofty Bitch

Live solo performance with single-channel video feed. Created site-specifically for lifework: dialogue through performance, Melanie Manos and Eli Gold.

9338 Campau, Hamtramck, Michigan, March 2016. Full performance: 60 minutes, with two short breaks.

In Lofty Bitch I climbed high above the ground at the 9338 Campau project/gallery space, as a commentary on the mechanisms that still work to prevent women ascending the career ladder. A camera mounted just above the top of the 20' extension ladder transmits live-feed video to a ground-floor monitor, conveying the wobble of the ladder and giving viewers a close-up view of my face from above - effectively placing them in an elevated, removed position suggestive of workplace hierarchy.

 

Three acts: In the first, I am a cleaner/custodian climbing only the underside of the ladder, which bisects the  gallery. Act II, I wear professional/corporate attire with briefcase and laptop, and stop to lighten the load of the motivational books I carry such as “Lean In” which impede my progress. At the top, blocked by the wall, I write in red lipstick, "I AM A CEO..." Act III, I am dressed for work, clearly pregnant, at one point managing to roll over onto my back to rest before the long descent.

Lofty Bitch coasters at Materia Gallery featured in "8 Detroit Galleries Fueling the City's Economy" by Alexxa Gotthardt on Artsy (7/25/2018)

Melanie Manos in Lofty Bitch performance in Hamtramck, MI
Melanie Manos in Lofty Bitch performance in Hamtramck, MI
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