Trust, Treat, Space
A collaborative exploration of empathy, perception & sensory experience
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Trust, Treat, Space is a collaborative performance and video art series created with Esther Harbord. Through movement, sensory restriction, and material interaction, we explore the liminal space between control and surrender, perception and embodiment. Each piece invites the viewer into a world where vulnerability becomes a bridge to empathy.
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A sound-focused performance exploring sensory vulnerability and embodied listening
Duration: 4'15" | Format: HD video with stereo sound | Part of: Trust, Treat, Space series | Collaborator: Esther HarbordTrust Me With Your Ears is the final piece in the Trust, Treat, Space performance series — a collaborative project with Esther Harbord exploring sensory deprivation, bodily interaction, and alternative forms of connection.
This work places a unique focus on sound as the primary medium of trust. Through the partial removal of sight and touch, the performers engage in a dynamic exchange led entirely by auditory cues — whispers, breath, rhythm, and silence.
With eyes closed and bodies attuned to sonic detail, the performers surrender to a shared sensory experience where listening becomes both navigation and communication. The absence of visual feedback heightens awareness, vulnerability, and internal perception, transforming the act of hearing into a deeply embodied process.
As with the rest of the series, this work invites the viewer to question how sensory limitation creates intimacy, empathy, and unexpected forms of storytelling.
Themes:
Embodied listening and sensory focus
Auditory trust and communication
Feminine presence and reciprocal vulnerability
Empathy through performance
Collaborative navigation of altered perception
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A collaborative performance video exploring trust, touch, and sensory disruption
Duration: 6'25" | Format: HD video with stereo sound | Created with: Esther Harbord
Treat Me Like a Material is part of the Trust, Treat, Space series — a collaborative exploration of materiality, bodily interaction, and sensory deprivation. Created in partnership with artist Esther Harbord, the work uses live performance and experimental video to probe the boundaries between trust, vulnerability, and the body as medium.
Filmed during a sequence of three live performances, the piece centres on the removal of specific senses — challenging both performers and viewers to engage in non-verbal communication. Through restricted movement, blindfolding, and touch-based connection, the performers explore what it means to be handled, guided, and responded to without traditional perception.
The resulting visual language is tactile, raw, and intimate — designed to make the viewer feel the restriction, negotiation, and care that unfolds. The work is as much about mutual surrender as it is about control.
Themes:
Empathy and embodied communication
Sensory deprivation and altered perception
Trust-based performance
Feminine presence and bodily vulnerability
Material-based interaction and intuitive connection
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Performance-based video exploring proximity, movement, and embodied perception
Duration: 3'09" | Format: HD video with stereo sound | Part of: Trust, Treat, Space series | Collaborator: Esther HarbordBodies in Space is the second performance video in the Trust, Treat, Space series — a collaborative project exploring the boundaries between self, other, and space through restricted movement and sensory-based interaction.
Created with artist Esther Harbord, the piece captures the intimate choreography of two bodies navigating shared space — responding to one another without visual cues. Through touch, gesture, and instinct, the performers engage in a quiet negotiation of boundaries and trust.
The lack of eye contact, verbal communication, and conventional sensory input amplifies the tension between closeness and distance, control and surrender. The viewer is invited to consider how proximity and movement can become a form of dialogue — one rooted in empathy, sensory attunement, and embodied care.
This work builds on the core theme of the series: that sensory limitation can foster new forms of connection and awareness, pushing both performer and viewer into unfamiliar, yet revealing, territory.
Themes:
Embodied performance
Trust and vulnerability in physical space
Sensory perception and deprivation
Collaborative movement
Feminine energy and quiet power
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Explore behind-the-scenes research, notes on material play, and reflections on empathy, embodiment, and sensory performance in the Trust, Treat, Space blog archive.
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