Archangel Gabriel's Flight Training

This performance was an act of balancing horizontally and it took place in a playground in Acton Park. In my performed response I wanted to experiment with how to be horizontal, inspired by the awkward aerial balancing of the clumsy angel in Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s The Annunciation (2010). I was going to repeat the action of the angel, who was asked to stretch her arms and legs level with the centre of her body and the ceiling, whilst suspended in harness. I wanted to honour the moment of balancing in the air, of becoming angel, to test out the feeling of laughter, to see how difficult it is, to remind myself of that lack of control.

Photos: Emily Orley