SHOWWOMEN: KIRA O’ILLY IN CONVERSATION WITH

MARISA CARNESKY: I’d like to ask you about a work that is specifically relevant for the Showwomen book. In particular I want to talk about the performance you did for SPILL Festival – Untitled (Syncope) (2007) – where you worked with the image of a showgirl; it was very moving. Having been around a lot of showgirls – and I’m making the case that they are in fact showwomen – to see the imagery of the showgirl placed in a very different context really resonated with me. Let’s talk about that SPILL piece, the image of the showgirl, and how you played with it.