The Body in Question IV: La Mamma Morta

In 2008, Ruga was commissioned by the Hebbel am Ufer theatres to do a series of performances, which gave birth to the Body in Question series.

“I had been toying with the idea of making a memento mori for a dead mother without being smarmy, ‘ek sê’. I summoned the skills of Greek baritone Alex Alexiou to collaborate in rescoring and performing the aria La Mamma Morta.

I then went ahead to create the character, modeling it on a famous Maria Callas portrait.

My original goal was to use the recurring theme of disembodiment, together with embodied images of dislocation to create an accessible work that interrogates ideas of HIV/AIDS to evince the construct of hyper-femininity.

The work is dedicated to my mother and sister.”

The exhibition will be opened with a performance.

In association with whatiftheworld

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