QUEER disabled artist Sarah Hopfinger shares her experience of chronic pain in a live performance piece at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Pain and I is presented across live audio and visual platforms to further promote access, disability arts and equity as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase 2022.
Described as a bold exploration into the experience of chronic pain, the work focuses on Hopfinger’s lived experience to explore and celebrate the rich complexities of living with pain while asking what pain can teach people.
Glasgow-based Hopfinger said she created Pain and I in response to her own experience of living with chronic pain for 19 years.
“Until recently I had related to my pain as a barrier and hindrance to my life and work but over the past three years I have been exploring how to turn towards my pain differently, using dance and performance to creatively collaborate with it,” she said.
“I was inspired to make this work in response to my need – and the need of other people I spoke to who live with chronic conditions – for a creative space to acknowledge, share and celebrate the rich complexities of living with pain.
“I wanted to explore the spectrum of chronic pain experience – the struggles, difficulties, challenges, insights, learning. I was also inspired to create Pain and I to develop ways of dancing and performing that embrace, rather than work against or despite, my chronic pain body.
“I wanted to create a performance that celebrates the intimate relationship between me and my pain and puts chronic pain experience centre stage.”
The performance features playful choreography, experimental dance and intimate autobiographical text, paired with an original classical music composition by Alicia Jane Turner. It invites the audiences to reflect on what it means to care for themselves and each other in times of personal and collective pain.
Presented by a creative team that includes Hopfinger and Turner, alongside producer Laura Fisher, Pain and I puts the disabled experience at the centre of the work.
All performances will be captioned and British Sign Language performances will take place on August 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24. The audio piece is accessible for blind and partially sighted audiences, and the visual publication is accessible for D/deaf audiences.
