TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

In an existential effort to understand my own parasitism, and to examine the possibility of a more synergistic lifestyle, I've embarked upon an embodied exploration of bloodletting. My research has developed into The Leech House Series, a creative investigation, positing bloodletting as a conceptual antidote to modern consumer medicine.
 
Leech House is a series of symbiotic transference rituals whereby the human parasite becomes guardian host to the hermaphroditic leech, inviting the leech to feast upon and cleanse the blood with hirudin venom and gender neutralizing verve.

 In these rituals and exchanges, the performer (Ryder) subverts her gender by opting to feed medicinal leeches instead of the human infant-parasite. In turn, the leech offers the medicinal hirudin peptide in this re-presentation of parasitism as a symbiotic exchange.
 
Leech House is a collaboration with over 12 artists, photographers and videographers who have helped conceptualize, stage and document the rituals. Each collaborator has contributed their own unique ideas and techniques to the project, creating an eclectic portfolio of images and videos.
 
The proposed Leech House presentation will touch upon several topics, culminating with the performance series:


1. The Art of Humoural Medicine, Bloodletting and Medicine Today

2. Leeches: Shape-Shifting Non-Binary Hermaphrodites
3. Parasitism, Mutualism & Symbiosis, or, How to Be a Good Parasite as Exemplified by Leeches
4. Little Biters with Big Personalities

5. The Leech House Series, project description, photos/videos

 
The proposed Leech House Art Exhibit/Installation will be a visual presentation of printed photos, video loops, garments, props, and residue from the performance series.