Ms. Davis* , 2021

I sat by a bare rectangular table that had no top; through the gaping space, the air flowed without interruption; I felt a swirl of air caress the back of my head and tickle the confines of my ears, my nostrils, and the groove of my lips. A cloud of dense air under my chin and along my neck released small vortices of air that spilled to my shoulders, encountered my neck, and slipped back onto my shoulders. Then, it rolled under my chin and back to my shoulders where it slid downward and split between my chest and back. Having reached my hips, it crossed the table’s threshold, the flow swerved down towards my legs and filled the wooden outline of the table and chair with more air.

I gazed down into the jarred table beside me and watched the flow of air fill the wooden outline of the table and chair. From my bird’s eye view I observed the fragments of the table’s structure, its corners, legs, as well as details of my body: an arm, palm, fingers; an angle of my calf, foot, or toes; my chest, my back, and the air’s presence which appeared as physical as the wood of the table, chair, and the flesh of my limbs.

On the axis of my seat I tilted, lowered, and straightened my body to seek points of view in which air had equal visibility as its other components; I tilted my head to expose angles; meddled with my pupils to render sharpness, distortion, or blurring. They leaned on the wall, side by side, and watched my movements intently as I tilted my back slightly forward; I bent my head and directed my eyes to the table’s leg that was the farthest away from me; I blurred my gaze until the leg of the table appeared merged as an entity with the air surrounding it; until the leg of the table appeared fortified on all sides by the impact of the air.

An empty space stretched in-between me, the table, and the people who were aligned against the wall at the far end of the room. I looked at the empty space; if only its air would be charged and twist into rings which would multiply and circle their ankles then the spinning would gain energy, rise, and embrace these persons. I signaled them with my two raised hands wishing for a stray palpation of air from their far end.

I stretched my body downward to the floor and let my eyes swipe an arched line that crossed the empty space; as my eyes drew the invisible arch from and towards the floor, shallow waves of air rose, at an ankle’s height, in a mirror image to the invisible arch; the waves of air withheld but very soon subsided in their wavering manner. In a more forceful gaze, I tilted my head sideways and in a piercing motion of my eyes, I sliced the air; a thin but gigantic wave of air rose and curved high, then downward, and subsided.

I finally stood up, circled the table and entered the empty space before me; I roamed the floor with sharpened eyes in a search for clues on the presence of air waves. In this unseen topography, I adjusted my stride to smaller or larger steps, from heels to toes or from toes to heels, accelerating or slowing down; when I changed directions I was careful about the measure of angles. When I did stand, I held out the palms of my hands and lightly shook my fingers for any detection of air waves, or I lifted my arms hoping for miraculous air to dangle down. Then I was running and accelerating until I reached the end of the space where I had set in a calculated direction, while hovering over a random wave of air. They were still leaning side by side, against the wall as they watched intently. I walked towards my spectators until I was one step in front of them; my eyes gazed in a blur and my head swayed like a light breeze had brushed by us.

I shut my eyes and out of the shadows I saw air that was lit with drops that sparkled; the glow seemed intensified when I was envisioning it farther away and when I turned my gaze to the standing persons, the glow of the air brightened; it illuminated the spaces surrounding them.
When I opened my eyes the glow continued to dazzle; I blinked incessantly until my eyes were covered in a glaze of moisture and the air was lit with sparkling drops; when I looked farther on, the glow seemed intensified and when I turned my gaze to the standing persons, the glow brightened and illuminated the spaces around them and created standing images merged with golden air.
I turned back but barely away from the viewers; I raised my head high and slightly forward. As I gazed, I felt a swirl of air caress the back of my head and tickle the confines of my ears, my nostrils and the groove of my lips.

*This is a tribute to the “Ms. Davis” which was performed between 1981-83