Lakeside (2020)

In Lakeside, performance and interdisciplinary artist Karen Bernard confronts the memory of trauma and its lasting impact on the body. Using a found costume from her past, a bright yellow and black body suit, Bernard hauntingly conjures a murder scene where she and collaborator Lisa Parra inhabit roles of victim, witness, murderer, crisscrossing identities through minimalist movements that have the power to deliver an emotionally charged wallop, characteristic of Bernard’s layered and introspective work. The costume itself is imbued with a personality that is passed back and forth between Bernard and Parra, pointing to a shared experience of physical terror. The act of watching and bearing witness to violence is subtly interrogated, leading us to question what spectatorship means in a culture that regularly transmits and consumes violent imagery done to female bodies. Development of Lakeside began summer 2019 at L’Annexe-A in Quebec and fall 2019 at Obras Foundation in Portugal.

Bernard sought to expand upon the relationship of Lakeside and Poolside (2019) during residency at the Emily Harvey Foundation. She will research nuanced physicality and the body as a map of memory, longing and a myriad of layered images placed in hypothetical situations.

Lakeside at L’Annexe-A, Lisa Parra and Karen Bernard photo by Audree Juteau

Credits

Creation: Karen Bernard
Video: Karen Bernard
Performers: Karen Bernard and Lisa Parra
Dramaturg: Andi Stover
Yellow/Black Costume: Created for Karen Bernard late 70’s, designer unknown
Lighting Consultant: Emma Rivera
Sound Score: Found Sounds and Boris Billier
Graphics: Travis DeMello
Press Representative: Janet Stapleton stapleton.janet@gmail.com