MOTHERLINES
Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico. 2023.
BIGUIDIRIBELA
L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. 2023.
The second edition of EYIBRA and Xiao’s collaboration takes the stage across three continents. ‘Motherlines’ is a performance that investigates matriarchal lines and the symbol of braid in Ukrainian culture. EYIBRA weaves a soundscape in which her mother and grandmother sing a Ukrainian ritual song related to initiation rites, accentuated by the use of contact microphones fixed within a specially made nail-biting “armor". Commissioned by LACMA Art + Technology Lab, Biguidiribela explores queer identity through the lens of the Muxes of Oaxaca, addressing themes of identity, colonisation, and environment through performance and multimedia. Xiao’s costume design takes the theme of bodily constitutions and visualize a choreographed passage for EYIBRA’s movement while embedding the act of braiding and weaving through complex making techniques. Combining see-through and opaque, stretch and stiff materials, Xiao wages the dynamic balance to complement the performer’s narrative.