M/OTHER Ashes Ritual (2025)
PERFORMANCE
Description
m/Other (Ashes Ritual) is a Butoh-based solo performance exploring grief, kinship, and transformation across species lines. Inspired by the death of my dog and Donna Haraway’s theory of companion species, the work reimagines motherhood as a bond that is not biological, but shared—felt through care, memory, and ritual.
An edible bone lingers in the space as a trace of remembrance, which I chew as part of the performance. I carry a bone of my lost companion within my costume as a relic. Through movement, my body shifts toward dog-motherhood: I mourn, howl, and search for my absent kin. m/Other unfolds as a ritual of interspecies connection, where loss becomes a site of transformation.
Performance Details
m/Other (Ashes Ritual)
2025
Performance with dog’s ashes, single-channel video, recorded dog heartbeat audio, metal chain, edible bone, and carpet
Dimensions variable
Support
This project was supported, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Presentation
OPEN STAGE — Fall Movement
December 5–6
CPR – Center for Performance Research
361 Manhattan Ave, Williamsburg, NY
Curated through by Shawn Escarciga, Dominica Greene, Amelia Heintzelman, and Muyassar Kurdi.
Documentation
Photo documentation: Jose Miranda
Video documentation: Mira Kaplan
At the beginning of the performance, I present a three-minute video recorded two days before my dog passed. The video contains a recording of his heartbeat and a poetic text about a woman who gives birth to a dog, co-written with AI. This video was also exhibited as part of the installation for m/Other.
Following his passing, the poem was revised in response to loss and incorporated into Ashes Ritual as part of the performance’s transformation.
