Trauma Bonding: A Visual Interpretation of the Paths of Life

What began as a personal venture into play piercing and finding a balance between personal self harm, to active ritual body modification became Trauma Bonding. This performance was an hour and a half long durational piece which included live piercing, crafting a mixed media piece and improvisational music from violinist JoBird. YET Torres accompanied the piece as the other body in this ritualistic performance.

Influenced heavily by solitary practice and study of occult sciences and western esotericism, the inspiration for Trauma Bonding is built on Hermetic Qabalah and Kabbalah. The coupling of needles represents each sefirot with the thread connecting the needles to recreate the Kabbalistic Tree of Life on both bodies. Using personal belongings from the artists and participating collaborators, there begins a weaving of thread, objects, personal letters, photographers, organic matter and other materials of sentimental value. Neither relying on the positive or negative connections of these items, the piece focuses on a literal play of words rather than a metaphorical bonding by trauma. The body is experiencing trauma through piercing and is being bond by material.

As the weaving and building of this web between the performers gradually builds over the hour, the audience can come to question what is being presented to them. This vulnerability of two nude bodies, weaving memory to one another acts as a conversation between them. Sharing who their mother is, past projects, a letter from old lovers, memories of a car crash, without uttering a word. A conversation and entanglement physically manifested from mementos. By the end of the performance the audience is left with a final image of this exchange and given an opportunity to see what the energetic exchange of ourselves with others may look like in physical context. The weaving is done on intuition which brings us to the divinatory aspect of this performance.

Each sephiroth on the Tree of Life represents a planet or a word in the Hebrew alphabet. Each line is a path, which is represented in the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot. Interpreting what these connections mean to the performers after they have finished is what makes Trauma Bonding interpersonal. Why is a photo of a woman connecting from the sefirot of Saturn to the High Priestess path on the other performer. The piece ends with the piercer Ms. Modesty separating the performers with scissors. Even in separation, memories have been given to the other performer, hanging onto the body as a reminder of the exchange.

Trauma Bonding was performed at Black Magic Social Club as Vik’s first evening length performance art piece.