LAYLA'S LOCKDOWN

Missing connection with people, finding herself entrenched in the domestic sphere and at war with new communication technology in the first lockdown, inclusive artist Layla Tully decided to set herself a 30-day performance challenge to develop her practice and keep meaningful discourse open between far and close contacts.
 

Based upon a simple instruction - film a performance for 1 minute every day and share it with one new person from your phone's contact list - the artist is forced not only to find creativity within the often oppressive mundanity of lockdown, but to share intimate responses with an increasingly diverse range of friends, acquaintances and colleagues.
 

Perform for 1 minute every day
Film it
Share it with one new person or WhatsApp group per day working chronologically backwards

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As Layla states, 'forcing myself to be seen and vulnerable to anyone who had contacted me on WhatsApp was painful at times, I did allow myself only one exception- my daughter's nursery group. I didn't feel it was fair to expose her to the judgements I was bringing on myself. This practice has indeed been challenging but it has also been cathartic. It has brought me new perspectives and feelings of closeness to contacts that I had not anticipated'.

 

Upon completion, the work was included as part of the Chase Feminist Network and the entire playlist can be watched here.