to quiet the marks II

2023

a control so marvelous you could teach it to eat pain

 – Maggie Nelson

An intimate duet, to quiet the marks II is an extension of a solo work Heather Stewart created in collaboration with Marc Bartissol in 2018. to quiet the marks II considers the ways in which Western healthcare systems require women and other vulva owning individuals to absorb and dismiss physical trauma within a medical context. This work was influenced by Heather Stewart’s own experience of receiving preventive treatment, surgery, and screenings for cervical cancer. The lack of care and consent that she experienced implored her to spend time searching for the marks that these procedures left within the landscape of her body.

The work exists in an environment intended to stimulate sonic, visual, kinesthetic, and material senses. to quiet the marks II takes its influence from the contrast between the stark coldness and inherent violence of gynecological procedures and the warmth, sensitivity, and tenderness of human flesh. Movement is approached from a place of resistance, resilience, supplication, opposition, and exhaustion. The performance of to quiet the marks II explores states of effort, control, and relief as a way of excavating layers of physical trauma in order to reclaim ownership of the body.

Choreography: Heather Stewart

Performed by: Isabel Hunter Ball & Alyx Henigman

Sound: Original score by dull

Costume Design: Heather Stewart

Lighting Design: Harrison Pearse Burke

Outside Eye: Allie James

Length 20 minutes