'I Care By...' (A Recital)

To recite is to read aloud, to repeat from memory, to declaim (meaning to utter or deliver in a rhetorical or impassioned way), to narrate, and also, to allege. A recital is defined as an enumeration or listing of names, facts, events, doings – happenings to be shared, reckoned with, remembered. A recital also describes a performance of a programme of music by a soloist or small group. Both definitions depend on an audience, on witnesses, watchers, listeners.

SoAH Research Presents offered a recital by artist/soloist Jade Montserrat, a performance which invited the audience to reflect upon matters close to her heart concerning race; the vulnerabilities of bodies; the tactile, sensory, healing qualities of drawing and writing; the structuring of care within institutions; and care as a method for arts and humanities research. The performance was participatory. Audience members were invited to attend with whatever materials for drawing they had to hand, and to engage in a series of exercises which centred upon practices which Jade encouraged them to entangle, including drawing, breathing,reading, listening, writing and vocalising.