In the depths of a private locked room, HUNTER toys with the redemptive process of a classical tragedy, whereby a character is made to gain insight through suffering. Though in this tragedy, performer and choreographer Courtney May Robertson enacts so-called life-affirming monstrosities upon herself and her life-sized doppelgänger in doll form. The duo – one of flesh and blood, the other crafted from foam and silicone – map out the internal torments and ecstasies of an individual in conflict with a society that upholds purity as a moral standard.
Inspired by Horror, BDSM and Melodrama, a tapestry of images are woven in which the grotesque, sexual perversion and excessiveness become triumphant symbols for bodily autonomy and empowerment. Spectators are invited to enter a space where the rigid dichotomy between repulsion and attraction dissolves. Courtney is convinced that when shame is suspended the visceral emotion of disgust, generally associated with aversion, has the capacity to transform into paradoxical intrigue. Propelled by an industrial soundscape composed by ‘Acidic Male’, in HUNTER self-destruction is embraced as an act of self-preservation.
“At its core, I would say that HUNTER is about dangerously obsessive desire. The kind of intoxicating desire that grabs you by the throat and pins you down and takes your life; and you let it destroy you and adore every second of it.”
– Courtney May Robertson