7000 Year Old Woman – Lucy Thane

2009

Lucy Thane created a number of faithful re-creations of sculptor Betsy Damon’s performance 7000 Year Old Woman (1977). Damon wanted to transform public spaces by disrupting the expected role of women within them and to try to imagine an alternative world experience in which the roles, behaviours and assumptions that define gender were freed from preconception. As Damon had before her, Thane painted her face white and her lips black and was clothed in small bags of flour. Her collaborator(s) made spirals on the ground, creating a protective circle around her. The 7000 Year Old Woman then walked, skipped and ran around these circles and broke open or handed out the flour bags. Variations of this ritualistic artwork were performed in different locations around London as the original had been done in a variety of locales in New York.

Read more about the piece on Lucy’s blog>

Performed with Arlene Wandera, Jake McGarry and Melanie Clifford

Filmed by Richard Canham & Looney Park, Edited by Oriana Fox

Photos by Christa Holka