Casting Off Being Cast Off

Casting Off Being Cast Off is the first act in a new body of work that traces the first steps of a journey towards self-liberation. Appropriating words and actions that were used to indoctrinate and oppress me in both private domestic spaces and public social spaces, this is an intimate proposal for how to lift oneself and one’s dependents up from poverty, illness, self-doubt, inconsolable grief, physical attacks by others, police abuse, academic discouragement, and other obstacles and legacies of struggle and oppression. While the appropriated elements were originally meant to be protective, the traditions they embody have proven to be damaging and harmful first to myself, and then to my children. This video was produced as part of a collaborative project by artist Kim Ye, and can be accessed at: www.ladyscumbag.com/casting-off-being-cast-off/