“MATER (Fons Amoris)” is a research on the voice as body within the body and the space as central choreographic tool around the topic of mother- wound and miscarriage/ child loss. Irene Accardo, after experiencing herself three consecutive miscarriages and undergoing a personal healing process, started in 2022 a laboratory (funded by take Heart Förderung/Fonds DaKu) titled “The Milky Way ” where she explored these topics connecting healing practices and arts. Within this research she encountered the concept of “Disenfranchised grief”, the type of grief that does not find support or recognition within society at large. From that point onward she consequently explores through performance and other media moments of collective healing, applying healing practices as artistic tools. In “Mater ( Fons Amoris)” she specifically applies organic and plaintive voice techniques to literally shape the space within and around the body, exploring the concepts of “Mother” as a physical and mental space, where the silence exists as potentiality of matter (also rooted in the word MATER), both existing and not excluding each other in time and space. Using texts by Julia Kristeva’s reflections and poetic words on motherhood and on the Stabat Mater (Medieval prayer giving voice to the mourning mother of Jesus under the cross), this piece takes inspiration from the idea of disenfranchised grief as a potentiality for accepting the paradoxes and coexistence of unresolved issues, to give literally voice to the unspeakable.
Duration: around 17 Minutes
Concept and Performance: Irene
Tools, Tech: Microphone, loop machine, stereo boxes. No particular light setting.
Perfomed:
Art Week, Garage Tanz- Fahrbereitschaft open doors September 2023
Evening in the valley, Cordillera Tanz, Berlin, Performance night, December 2023
Further dates to come soon.
Irene Accardo 