Side Step 2016 | Ana Borralho & João Galante: sexyMF

SexyMF by Ana Borralho and João Galante is based on the workshop by the same name. In the workshop local participants dive into the asymmetries that regulate social identities and the definitions of male/female. Their faces are masked into the opposite role of their physical gender. In the performance the individual viewers are offered the possibility to sit face-to-face with these hybrids. This situation enables both a distant voyeurism and a very intimate relation between the observer and the observed. 

Each performer starts to seduce their own audience-member, in the nude and in drag, lusting them in this privately bare state of affairs. The piece is based on erotic imagery and explores notions of gender, masculinity and femininity through the public gaze. At the same time the piece leaves room for diverse personal and shared experiences in a shared space. The characters’ bodies are completely exposed. They portray a very obvious gender/sexual ambiguity.

Portuguese performance artists Ana Borralho and João Galante have been working together on projects of their own since the early 2000’s on performance art, dance, installation, photography, sound and video art. The couple’s frequent addressed themes include: body/mind, outside/inside, emotion/feeling, me/others, private/public, social/politics, gender/sexual ambiguity, erotic imaginary and self-portrait.

Listen to the interview with the sexyMF Helsinki team on Esitysradio (Performance Radio).