Performance Art

As an artist-philosopher, I incorporate performance art into my work to create an interactive and dynamic dialogue between the artwork and the audience. Performance art allows me to express philosophical concepts, giving voice to both individual and collective experiences. A core element of my practice is the concept of call-and-response, a tradition that has its roots in African Diasporic culture and serves as a tool for engagement and connection. In this form, I position the audience as active participants in the creation of embracing spiritual experiences through art. The call acts as an invitation, a gesture of opening, and the response, often spontaneous, reflects the shared experience between me as the performer and the audience. This interaction emphasizes how the spirit moves, and how the performance evolves through our interactions.

Performer

Rikiesha Metzger

"I Get Out" is a video performance piece created as part of my master's thesis. In this solo performance, I use the art of miming both as a way to conceal myself from the audience and as a nod to its traditional use as a great tool of expression. Miming enables me to communicate emotions and ideas without spoken words, allowing the audience to feel the raw intensity of the performance through exaggerated gestures and facial expressions.

This work is performed to Lauryn Hill’s 2001 song “I Get Out” from her MTV Unplugged album. The song, which speaks to Hill’s emancipation from institutionalized systems, serves as the foundation for my exploration of freedom and self-liberation. I use the visual “frame” of the video as a metaphor for the metaphorical boxes Hill seeks to escape. In this sense, the frame represents the constraints she rebels against, embodying societal structures and expectations.

Through miming, I evoke the emotions within Hill’s lyrics, using facial expressions and movements to connect the audience to the narrative of her experience. This piece invites viewers to feel a visceral response to themes of entrapment and liberation, mirroring Hill’s journey while also reflecting my own artistic and personal exploration of freedom. The call-and-response between Hill’s song and my miming creates a dynamic exchange, where my silent movements answer the powerful words of her lyrics, inviting the audience to engage in a shared experience of expression and liberation.

Performers

Rikiesha Metzger, Kara McDonagh, Lyneia Richardson

This performance piece was performed at Gormley Gallery as part of the Art & Spirituality Exhibition in 2022. Drawing from African Diasporic traditions, the use of call-and-response served as a tool for communal engagement and spiritual connection, inviting participants to experience the spiritual through art.

In my performance, call-and-response functioned as a means of connection and communication, emphasizing pathways to access the spiritual. Although the performance took place in a gallery, this practice brought the essence of expressing the spiritual into the space, enabling individuals outside the African Diaspora to engage and participate in this transformative experience.

Performer

Rikiesha Metzger

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