ARTIST STATEMENT
In “Rusalka, Escaping and Subverting the Medical Gaze” (2022), confined space becomes one with the body in enacted self-agency, demanding visibility and recognition in the face of both medical scrutiny and societal stigma. Referencing the lived experience of chronic illness and disability, this performance interprets the opera “Rusalka” by Antonín Dvořák to explore the medical gaze in relation to chronic illness and its effect on personal autonomy and agency. Here, as in many of my artworks, costume and spatial materiality is integrated and examined in collaboration with the playful, empowered movement of a body made visible in performance.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maelisa (she/her) is a costume designer, visual artist and researcher. Her artistic practice utilizes costume design, along with painting and drawing, to centralize and subvert common conceptions of human bodies and lived-experiences through performance. Her costume work for theatre and film has been displayed at venues including the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., the Virginia Film Festival, the DU Film Festival in Dublin, and Central Saint Martins in London. She has worked in productions across theatre, film, opera and dance.
She holds an MA with Distinction in Costume Design for Performance from the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, and a BA with Distinction in Drama from the University of Virginia, where she was a Miller Arts Scholar of Drama.
Her current work and research advocates for the contribution of performance art and design to disability studies of invisible disability. She is also particularly passionate about increasing accessibility in technical performance sectors. She is currently based in London.
© Maelisa Singer