"INTREPID 0" [Solo Performance] 
(My first performance of the INTREPID series)
“I release all attachments, I embrace detachment” Charcoal on 12’X12’ paper
Ritual performance
June 2014

“INTREPID I” [Solo Performance inside of “Breaking Open” installation]
“I give thanks” Charcoal on 9’X9’ paper
2:42min EXCERPT from 11:30min video documentation of ritual performance 

"INTREPID II" [Group Performance inside of “Breaking Open” installation]
Performed by: Phylicia Ghee, Cheryl Ashley, Catrina Caldwell, Karene McLaurin & Karla Benedict.
5:42min EXCERPT from 20:32 min video documentation of ritual performance
 ***Dedicated to Karla Benedict, with love & sisterhood*** 

--- Special Thank You to those who contributed to the Sound with Audio recordings of personal stories: Natalie Stewart, Amber Carroll Santibanez, Ashley Williams, Anna Davis, Caelyn Sommerville, Cee Cee Ghee (Grandmother), Ghee (Grandfather), Denitra Isler, Karen Ghee (Mother), Kriss Mincey, Missy Smith & Morgan Baker

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INTREPID is a ritual performance series in which I am using my body to move in a spiral formation while writing a series of repeated affirmations in charcoal on a 9 by 9' sheet of paper. This ritual uses movement and repetition to build new framework in the brain and initiate new neural connections. The vision for INTREPID came during a time when I was studying dance, neural plasticity, alchemy, and subatomic particle collisions. When subatomic particles collide, they form spirals. The spiral is also an important family symbol for my grandfather. It is found in the double helix of our DNA and can be found in nature, both molecularly and galactically.

My body, never leaving the paper, slowly erases the words of the affirmations I am writing, and they begin to cover my skin. In this way, I am stepping into my intentions in a very literal way. What I write is ultimately erased, although not completely. The beginning of the spiral of affirmations can still be read faintly. This performance challenges me not only to accept the impermanence of life but also to find and connect with that which is ever present, can never be erased, and never dies. Along with my affirmations, the 9 × 9' paper holds my fingerprints and the unique markings made by my body. The 9 × 9' paper holds a story of interconnectedness. A story of who I was and who I became. It is a portrait of myself, my ancestors, and the larger whole.

A fire in my apartment three years prior to the first performance of INTREPID opened my eyes to exploring charcoal as a tool and as a residue of fire. Charcoal not only carries with it the combustive, alchemical energy of fire into the work, but it also serves as a ritual tool and purifier of water (our bodies being up to 60% water). The affirmations I write in charcoal are transcribed onto my skin. My body, never leaving the paper, slowly erases the words of the affirmation and they begin to cover my skin. In this way I am stepping into my intentions in a very literal way. So, like a Buddhist sand mandala, INTREPID also challenges me to both accept the impermanence of life and to find that which is ever present.

The INTREPID II was my first time sharing ritual performance collaboratively in this way. We all influenced each other’s healing and spiritual evolution. My journey with these four amazing women has continually informed and influenced the way I’ve lived my life since and the sensitivity & compassion I have for those journeying beside me. We are all one, connected through the most pure and indestructible parts of ourselves.

In addition, one of the women; Karla Benedict, sadly passed away less than a month after we shared this ritual together. Needless to say, it was heartbreaking. A lot of grieving had to take place after this experience. I gave her 9X9' work to her family to keep. Later on I noticed that in her spiral she wrote repeatedly: "I am at peace, I am at peace, I am at peace, I am at peace…" all the way out to the edges of the paper.

“Every overgrown passion (including addiction and cravings), aggression, and signs of ignorance (including denial and the tendency to shut down or close out) is a seed for inner peace, compassion and openness…Our teacher is not separate from our own experience. My realization is that my fullest potential is here. This is the seed, and the full grown tree, this is where the work is done, on the ground level, this is where acceptance is stepped into… This place of pain, the charnel ground is the working basis for attaining enlightenment.”
~ Pema Chodron