“Matrilineal” – Examining domestic violence in heteronormative family lineages. Rachael Mauney
The project “Matrilineal” is a dialogue between body based artist Rachael Mauney (they/them) and singer/sound designer Telmo Branco (they/them) to examine domestic violence in heteronormative family lineages.
This work addresses the oppressive mentality which enables this abusive cycle to continue, as well as the hopeful revolution of emancipation.
The heteronormative concept of “woman” involves a type of resilience that thrives in alienation, silence, and delusion. It is yet another example of the way the gender binary is used to oppress, in this specific case within the patriarchal institution of family.
“Matrilineal” reflects on the aftermath of domestic violence and the cycle which is exhumed in each generation, while proposing the abolition of heteronormative family values as a conduit of liberation.
The performance “Matrilineal” premiered on 21st of January 2022 at AckerStadtPalast Berlin. (Trailer: https://vimeo.com/640948963)
There is a history of women in my family who lay softly in the graves of their silence
There is a history of women in my family who give their hearts and minds to be dictated and indoctrinated
There is a history of women in my family who embody the men that they love
There is a history of women in my family who cling to autocracy
There is a history of women in my family who offer softness to fists and affection to slander
There is a history of women in my family who remain shrouded in submission to an unseen god
There is a history of women in my family who manifest this god in their husbands and fathers
There is a history of women in my family who suffer their bodies to the disease silence brings, to the horror the body tells
There is a history of women in my family who fear abandonment more than death
There is a history of women in my family who nurture violence and uphold their abuser as a savior
There is a history of women in my family who find solace in the children they bear to suffer with them
There is a history of women in my family who believe their love can absorb the wounds of violent men
There is a history of women in my family whose denial literally kills them
Their poisons differ
Opiates, religion, detachment, mania
But the result persists.
Illness becomes identity.
Identity becomes a fight for life
The fight becomes surrender
The surrender nurtures the violence that made them ill
There is a history of women in my family whose bodies rebel against their denial, whose denial drives them to their deaths. (Rachael Mauney)
