You Don't Know Me From a Bar of Soap Live 2019

03 Aug 2019 : Scratch Art Space, 67 Sydenham Road, Marrickville, Sydney.

This work was part of [dis]connection performance art event, presented as part of the Inner West Arts Studio Trail. For this project, I wanted to work with soap and its extended meanings and connotations around issues of identity and its formation. Playing between intimacy and revulsion I offered to wash a part of the visitor’s body with soap and water, whilst discussing who they are, how they feel, how they identify. Most people related an anecdote about soap in their life or childhood, often prompted by the used soaps I had on display. I continued to carve letters into blocks of soap, one letter per bar, to make up the expression: you don’t know me from a bar of soap. Part of my motivation was the act of foot-washing : biblical, respectful, and caring. The other part is the reference to soap reputedly rendered from human fat during the Nazi Holocaust.



Project Details
Dates 03 Aug 2019
Duration 6 hours
Producer Bonnie Cowan and Scratch Art Space
Category solo
Credits Curator : Bonnie Cowan; project supported by the Inner West Council ; special thanks to those who donated their used soap for this performance; photos: Third Star Photography and Alan Schacher ; video : Greg Jones ; other artists participating in the event were Bonnie Cowan, • Sharon Backley-Astrachan, Omer Backley-Astracha, Keila Terenci, Adam Warburton (+ collaborators, Cath McNamara, Gideon Payten-Griffiths (+ Melissa Hume), Rowan Yeomans, Emma Harrison (+ Emalyn Knight), Wendy Yu