2020 / Video
Paradise lost at the Waffle House.
Bottom Bride exists as a performance and as a video. It tells the tale of transsexual (un)desirability and ecological collapse by way of the sad, sad story of a Southern belle engaged to a swarm of bees. The piece traces a wandering path through a classic family romance, filtered through the tropes of the Southern Gothic and the knowledge of imminent climate catastrophe.
Bottom Bride
CREDITS
for video: directed, performed and edited by Maria Silk (Silk Worm) with videography Chani Bockwinkel, assistants Shane Thomas and Nick Navarro, sound Jules Litman-Cleper, costume design Salome Mallari, and graphic design by Frank Leasing
for live: written, directed, and performed by Maria Silk (Silk Worm) with sound Jules Litman-Cleper, costume Salome Mallari, and dramaturgy Brittany Newell and Mica Sigourney
special thanks to Jackie Langelier, Matthew Grumbach, Franke Leasing, Ryan Tacata, Olympia Bukkakis, Jenkin van Zyl, Thomas Doherty, Simone Hudson, Nicole Bennett-Fite, Maggie Medlin, Phoebe Oathout, Erica Knox, John West, Will Funk, Elliott Bomboy, Alex Muscat, Madelaine Bixler, Helen Paris & Leslie Hill, Chase Porter, and Thomas Reidy
Maria Silk 