"all questions will be addressed to the body"

Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith is an artist, writer, and healer living with ALS. She was first diagnosed in August of 2012, and while her life and body have gone through many transformations, she is still dedicated to making art that helps people remember what is essential to being. Her commitment to being creative throughout the progression of this devastating disease is an act of empowerment and defiance as much as it is one of acceptance and surrender. 

Inspired by her performance, Bloom. She is Descending, which she created after her diagnosis, I asked Lindsay in 2014 if she would let me conduct a “movement interview” with her where all questions would be addressed to the body, but could be answered with movement or words. Since then we have continued to meet a collaborate with the shared belief that all bodies are expressive bodies. I went on to use the audio recording from that first interview as a part of the score for, Overtakelessness, composed and arranged by Minna Choi. Since that first session together:

• Lindsay has painted my body with her feet
• She has conducted her own interview of me and my experience being painted by her
• And most recently, we conducted a movement for camera exploration where we removed foreign entities: the wheel chair, the camera operator/photographer, and our clothes