The Weight of Inheritance, 2018, Queens Museum, Queens, NY
“So Great to support one of my friends from Tufts and one of my favorite contemporary performance artist, Kledia Spiro. With the Kavanaugh inquisition playing in the background, one’s feelings are elevated by seeing the physical weight of a heavy punching bag adorned with lace intimate garments suppressing the female body. The juxtaposition of the inquiry into Kavanaugh’s sordid past and the female body under this weight evokes emotions of slights in the acknowledgement of women’s rights and civil liberties on a whole. As if that wasn’t enough, Kledia’s face is partially concealed by a fish net with eyes covered by flowery jewel pins pointing to the fact of unrecognized societal norms that rob women of a truly respected and acknowledged identity. Spiro’s provocative black night attire even seems to suggest a leap of thinking that many men have with attraction. The chains that usually hold the bag up is adorned with pearls which signifies gender norms of the male gaze. Kledia ends the performance with taking the pearl adorned chain and smashing it against the cement floor leaving the delicate image of pearls in pieces and scattered. In conclusion, Kledia Spiro further smashes the delicate pearls with her stilettos as they are dispersed across the space as a way to claim her voice for herself and the many others that are like her.
If you are a feminist and you have a chance to see Kledia Spiro perform don’t walk but run to the performance. You too will say, “brava”, having witnessed something speciaL...” - Jason Wallace, artist
Photo credit: Jason Wallace