"GAEA Revisited" A performance by Jacqueline Overby
Performance: Saturday, October 17th, 6:30-8:30pm RSVP required Doors: 6:30pm Performance: 7pm (30 min duration) 5419 Glissman Road, Austin, TX 78702
Jacqueline Overby works to disfigure her own persona and take on that of another. She covers her face and body with clay. She physically builds up facial characteristics, devolving into an animalistic, visceral state, and exploring the base “id” level of her consciousness, meditating on the concept of a descent down into the depths and darkness of one's self: of one's own death and rebirth as something foreign. Overby imagines the earth as mother, and how she would feel in today’s sociopolitical climate and likening it to the artist’s own history of traumatic experiences. Overby harnesses the energy of her trauma and transforms into the GAEA in an attempt to reach a point of equilibrium. Her performances often include the use of confines, sheeting, or drapery, harkening back to a feeling of suffocation and struggle paired with a sense of safety and comfort.
Jacqueline Overby (b. 1991, San Antonio, TX) is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, performance, sculpture, and social practice. A Texas State BFA graduate, her needle-felted soft sculptures explore gender, body dysmorphia, mental health, and trauma through bright, exaggerated forms inspired by childhood cartoons and pop culture and the oddities of nature. Her process is both meditative and confrontational—transforming personal history into playful, provocative works that possess a sense of humor. Overby is the Founding Director of MotherShip Studios and the San Marcos Studio Tour. She lives in Austin where she is heavily involved in the local arts community and works in San Marcos, TX. She also co-founded Good Dad Studios (Renamed ATX ART HUB), the largest studio complex in central Texas. Additionally, Overby is an emeritus member of the 20 person ICOSA art collective and serves on Co-Lab Projects' advisory board.
