artist / critic / auntie

Jess is a theatre practitioner, vulnerability junkie, writer and artist, who loves to communicate cultural criticism through performance.

She investigates the way our bodies behave in social relations, particularly in relation to our ongoing colonial hangover in New Zealand. In 2014 her acclaimed solo theatre show Real Fake White Dirt, (Best Writing NZ Fringe 2015) was published as a book of poetry by Anahera Press.

She believes that the only way to acknowledge our difficult history is to lean into the real discomfort of being Pakeha. Her 2016 work The Offensive Nipple Show is a collaborative body project responding to the dangerous ways gender politics are disconnecting us from one another. Through performance, she seeks to find new ways of looking at each others bodies, that are both cheeky and empowering.

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