Justification

Often, once a lie is told or a secret withheld, some level of justification for doing so sets in.  Pride, defensiveness, denial, righteousness can appear.  Pride Field illustrates the untouchable, distanced, defensive nature of one who knows they are wrong but cannot admit it due to their own shame.   In this state, justification dominates.  I Wanted To Tell You, But You Were Sleeping symbolizes the flimsy excuses we use to maintain a secret or lie rather than confess.

Regret

Over time, there can be pressure, often internal, to come forward or a growing regret over a lie.  Secrets, too, have a negative effect over time on the soul or psyche.  Here guilt, regret, embarrassment, shame, emotional distress can all play a role.  Internal Bleeding, Under Pressure  express the idea of pressure and of the truth pushing for air, breaking through the surface.  Self Reflection speaks to the period where one finally takes an honest look within. It is admission, humbleness, the first step toward a kind of transformation. 

Coming Clean

The act of undoing a lie by coming forth with the truth or finally sharing a long-hidden secret can be an emotionally complex and difficult act. There is the voluntary way and, as exhibited by Caught, the involuntary way to confess. In Un-lying we see a slow shedding of layers, some revealing darkness, some light and truth.  The layers point to the fact that lies beget lies beget more lies and that the undoing can be a slow process requiring one to go back again and again to the same places.  Forgiveness illustrates how difficult yet healing and calming, that act can be.

This show explores the energy and emotions around telling lies and keeping secrets.  It explores motivations for lying, roles of liars and the receivers of their lies, phases of emotion associated with lying and conflicts around coming clean.  It also speaks to how ubiquitous lies and secrets are and how they exist in every person’s life in one form or another.

Deciding to Lie

The motivations for lying are myriad – saving face, creating or maintaining an image, sparing feelings, manipulation, fear, anger, etc.   But each lie, large or small, begins with a motivation and a decision.  Birthing Pods represent the initial decision to lie or tell the truth, to share or withhold information. Little White Lies and All My Eggs speak to the characteristics we assign to lies and to the durability and daily presence of lies in our life.

Eight Degrees of Separation shows how easy it is to obscure the truth. Protecting the Princess Myth speaks to lies that women tell to create “necessary” images of themselves.

Works included:

Eight Degrees of Separation

Under Pressure

Birthing Pods

Little White Lies

Protecting the Princess Myth

Internal Bleeding

Unlying

I Wanted to Tell You

1. But You Were Sleeping
   

Caught

Pride Field

Self-reflection

Burden

All My Eggs