Confusing, Caring, Curing is a 6-hour durational performance and installation that was presented in the Glass Box Gallery at the Belfast School of Art in Ulster University as part of the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art '21 on 24th March 2021 from 10am-4pm.

In Confusing, Caring, Curing Hattie moves between various uncomfortable positions as she waits at a bus-stop for 6 hours. The bus stop has a large advertisement which on closer inspection appears to be a google search history. Searchers include 'testing for ME', 'pain in my fingers', 'rubbing feet to go to sleep' and 'night sweats vinegar smell'. Sometimes you see an inkling of hope as she peers around the advertisement in expectation, but nothing comes. There appears to be no solution and no destination. The bus stop itself sits within the glass box gallery emphasising the way in which journeys towards diagnosis, mis-diagnosis and non-diagnosis often rob us of our sense of agency and make public what was previously private.

A reflection on the performance by the artist reads:

It felt like an expression of compliance & submission. It was frustrating, as viewer and performer, witnessing as the sick body is slowly and passively robbed of its agency, within a structure designed for its shelter. 

This performance was developed as part of Bbeyond's New Commissions Award 2020/21. More details can be found at BIFPA.

Photography by Jordan Hutchings