POETRY READING
OF THE
“NON-NORMATIVE
BODIES”

February 21st, 2019. Houston, Texas (US). Experimental Action Festival

Photo credits: Kylie Sivley and MengYing Li

In this one-hour action, a poetic recital was carried out supported by a selection of previously chosen texts, all of them related to social pressure on bodies, identities outside social expectations, texts in relation to the concept of ‘subaltern’, reflections of people who have experienced anorexia intheir own skin…
While the poetry reading was taking place, Fontbona performed a weight lifting exercise known by the name of ‘squats.’ Squats is an exercise that consists of bending down and getting up with a bar and weights located at the nape of the neck.
Through this exercise, it was allowed in a very visual way to illustrate the weight of this gaze, the gaze of the ‘other’ when it came to conditioning their own identity.
On the other hand, to reinforce the discourse, a dialogue was established in collaboration with another artist, Belinda Thomas. They, with Indian origin and queer identity, illustrated the difficulty of fitting in with this view and social expectations.