Abstract Narration: Am I Human?

Narration is a cluster funded research project conducted by four SKH film and media professors. Each artist/teacher pursued a specific topic within the concept of abstract storytelling. Abstract narratives have been underutilized and underappreciated. Our intention is to continue this debate with our unique approach and research questions.Am I Human?, was my contribution to the Abstract Narration project. Am I Human? looks at the abstract nature of our identity construction, revelation, and transformation within a performative frame. Through the literature review, I discovered fertile ground where performance art studies, disability studies, and identity studies overlapped. The question emerged, “How is the role and power of abstraction, in the performance of a disabled identity, accomplished”? I intend to provoke reflection about one’s self image and the transformative powers we possess concerning our identity. Another aim is to perform the body as a location for abstraction, creating narrative lines across multiple scenes.In collaborative workshops with an opera professor/singer and an electronic composer, the performative and transformative nature of disability was studied and expressed as one scene of a one act opera in dress rehearsal. Methods were discovered for future pedagogic techniques in character development for both mediated and live stage performance.