Fossils

Fossils (2022-)

Fossils (2022) was performed at Performance Space, Carriageworks in Sydney for the Live Dreams: IRL exhibition. Use this link or the QR Code below to access the Instagram page that documents the performance:

In Fossils, Kleine walked through Carriageworks as a character that speaks to their identity as a gender-fluid “mestizo” (i.e. a person of Filipino descent) and engaged with guests. Kleine took self-photographs of the performance on their phone with members of the public and uploaded the images in real time to the Instagram account created for the project. During the recorded 10-minute staged segment, Kleine engaged with the audience, conducted a tarot reading with an audience member on stage, and prayed for their family while the Instagram feed was projected on a screen on stage. The images uploaded to the Instagram feed could be engaged with during the performance while preserving a virtual record for future engagement.

Fossils interrogates the current role of self-portraiture and virtual communication in the curation of identity and relationships. During COVID-19, the usage of social media to curate our lives was used as a means of closure in an uncertain world. Our images have increasingly served as evidence of our existence – they are forms of representation for marginalised communities while serving as bridges that connect people in lockdown. We have become more and more conscious of the real-world consequences of virtual communication. As such, there is a fragile separation between “real” and virtual communication. These points resonate with Kleine’s practice as a queer, brown, and genderfluid artist who shares self-portrait photography to combat the erasure of their community.

Images courtesy of the artist.