In [siccer] Will Rawls experiments with stop-motion, a filmmaking technique in which still photographs are strung together to produce a moving image. Through a dance performance and accompanying video installation, Will Rawls experiments with stop-motion filmmaking to invite us to consider the ways in which Black bodies are relentlessly documented, distorted, and circulated in the media. Throughout [siccer]’slive performance, five dancers are suspended in an uncanny reenactment of an iconic American film. When the camera’s shutter closes momentarily between photographs, a gap in surveillance occurs that allows Rawls and collaborators to play within this interval through physical and vocal improvisations.
The project’s title is driven by the usage of “[sic],” a Latin adverb that indicates incorrect spelling within a quotation. [sic] is often employed to contrast Black vernacular with standard English. Upturning this perceived conflict, [siccer] illuminates the verbal, physical play that marks how Black performance actively eludes capture and speculates on the potential for collective strategies of narrating the world, uncorrected.
Megamenu Social