Please Mind:
"I couldn’t even applaud. It would have been like applauding to a prayer."
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A performance created in response to my son's diagnosis of schizophrenia.
A performance created in response to my son's diagnosis of schizophrenia.
2014
2014
On June 19, 2002, my son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was seventeen years old.
On June 19, 2002, my son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was seventeen years old.
I moved. There were no words. And there were swallows, the Roman symbol for a mother who lives with sorrow.
I moved. There were no words. And there were swallows, the Roman symbol for a mother who lives with sorrow.
The way I moved during the performance came from a video I made of myself telling the story of my son, schizophrenia, and the mental health system. I turned my body language into a dance. I created swallow drawings that represent me and my children. I filmed them and their shadows and the film runs during the performance. There are moments of visual silence in which the only movement is my dance and moments in which the swallows and their shadows interplay with me, the surrounding walls, ceiling and floor, and replicas of cliff swallow nests I created from clay.
The way I moved during the performance came from a video I made of myself telling the story of my son, schizophrenia, and the mental health system. I turned my body language into a dance. I created swallow drawings that represent me and my children. I filmed them and their shadows and the film runs during the performance. There are moments of visual silence in which the only movement is my dance and moments in which the swallows and their shadows interplay with me, the surrounding walls, ceiling and floor, and replicas of cliff swallow nests I created from clay.
The title of this piece is Please Mind, both a lament for my son's mind, and a sincere request that he comply with treatment.
The title of this piece is Please Mind, both a lament for my son's mind, and a sincere request that he comply with treatment.
Watching the swallows
That flew about restlessly,
And flung their shadows
Upon the sunbright walls of the old building;
The shadows glanced and twinkled,
Expanded and shrunk up,
Appeared and disappeared, every instant;
As I observed to William and Coleridge,
Seeming more like living things
Than the birds themselves.
- Dorothy Wordsworth
A response to the inaugural performance of Please Mind:
"I couldn’t even applaud after it was over. It would have been like applauding to a prayer."
- Jan Eskridge
Movement consultation on Please Mind was provided by Alicia Chesser.
The swallows were filmed by Rose McCracken with assistance by Marianne Evans-Lombe, Kelly McCracken, Maggie McCracken, Blake Biery, and Amy Shapley.
The swallow nests were built by Marianne Evans-Lombe, Rosa Evans-Lombe, Karyn E, Lindsey Vandeventer, Leah Whisnant, and Lydia Robbins.
Please Mind was photographed by Karyn E and filmed by Kelly McCraken.
Rehearsals for Please Mind were photographed by Rose McCracken, Rosa Evans-Lombe, Amy Shapley, and Marianne Evans-Lombe.
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