Temporality of the Performing Body: Movement, Memory, Mesearch

Exploring the intersections between my own embodiment and performance work, this thesis situates negotiations and renegotiations of embodiment as both experiential and as a subjective position that informs my creative practice. The examples of my creative research projects are detailed and discussed in light of the social and cultural critiques that relate to the themes of age (in)visibility, body size and self-study. Throughout, I investigate and advocate the benefits of conducting subjective based inquiry to inform practice-led work, and in exploring paradigms for autoethnographic explorations to be more accessible to those who engage with my practice. Starting from a position of reflection, where my performing body is seen as an archive of personal histories, memories, movements, techniques, as well as social and cultural phenomena, I mobilise the term ‘mesearch’ to disseminate the process of my creative inquiry. The mesearch position is discussed in light of each of the three creative research practice-led works. The benefits of a mesearch approach include the production of creative practice which is relational, ethical, rigorously self-aware and self-critical, innovative and even therapeutic. The implications of my practice, although it is introspective and entirely subjective, provide a platform for further practitioners who engage with self-inquiry to inform their creative outputs.