from yellow to brown (un)measured against a white background - a new performative work inspired by José Esteban Muñoz’s (1967-2013) ‘The sense of Brown’ and ‘all about love’ by bell hooks (1952 -2021). I invited Ellen Mary Rooijakkers and Lucciana Bolivar to be part of a transformative process of ‘displacement’, its meaning and manifestation.

In lucie draai’s work, displacement is key and she investigates all its connotations: the loss of a native place and environment, or a literal displacement, voluntarily or unintentionally, and thus ‘movement’. From her personal history of adoption from Colombia to the Netherlands, displacement has set in motion an irreversible process, in which questions about origin and identity remain unanswered, because crucial information is missing and therefore continuous movement may be the only constant and reliable factor.

From a decolonial, queer, feminist mindset lucie rethinks what it means to be human and how to reclaim an ethic of care and love. In various disciplines she tries again and again to seek a caring, loving connection with her self, her body, her history and her environment.

For ‘from yellow to brown (un)measured against a white background’, lucie invited her dear friend Ellen Mary Rooijakkers to design a costume for the performance to take place in Daily Practice. Ellen has made five ephemeral and literally layered garments from tulle, transparent but at the same time quite stiff material, each in a different (skin)tone.

lucie draai asked Lucciana Bolivar as a queer person of color to take analog portrait photos, over a 24-hour period; a conscious choice to look beyond the white, patriarchal, normative gaze.

Lucciana spent an evening, night, morning and afternoon with lucie, her partner and their pets. An intimate and realistic portrait on a hot, oppressive summer day.

When the sun shines, the figure of the street window moves through the space of Daily Practice. lucie draai has made the movement of this shape part of the exhibition and therefore opening hours have been adjusted. Together with polaroids that reflect the performance on August 28, ‘from yellow to brown (un)measured against a white background’ shows various possible semblances of lucie draai, from realistic to transparent; movements of boundaries, colours, shapes and identities: a constant displacement.

from yellow to brown (un)measured against a white background, 28-08-2022 until 09-10-2022 at Daily Practice, Rotterdam (NL).