PATIENCE AND PENITENTIA
There are occasions when I get the opportunity to lean into work that sits well outside the norm, and definitely outside my comfort zone.
My old friend Ida Sophia is a durational performance artist based between Adelaide and Berlin. I knew she was coming to Adelaide to perform Patience and Penitentia at Samstag Museum of Art. What I had no idea about was the impact the work would have on me.
For 40 days, Ida spent seven hours a day inside this extraordinary space, exploring silence, punishment, endurance and the complicated power dynamics within relationships. She was joined throughout the performance by an incredible group of artists including Ashton Malcolm, Sarah Neville, OAKEY and Isobel Stolinski.
I spent around 20 hours in the space photographing and filming the performance. It gave me an unusual opportunity to slow down, observe and respond rather than arrive with a preconceived idea of what I wanted to make.
Art Guide Australia described the work as “both a seductive and uncomfortable performance”, while The AU Review called it a “compelling feat of endurance.”
The entire performance was wrapped in an astonishing soundscape created by Ida’s husband, Joey. It was haunting and beautiful, and became such an important part of the experience of being in that room.
During the performance, and in the time since, I’ve also come to know OAKEY, an Adelaide artist and one of the performers in the work. We have some ideas brewing for 2027, which I’m very excited about.
I’m still working through the enormous body of photographs and film I made during Patience and Penitentia. There is definitely a longer-form film coming. Some projects take a little longer to reveal what they want to become.
