This Body, My City
“Jerusalem is the house of one God, the capital of two peoples, the temple of three religions and she is the only city to exist twice — in heaven and on earth…The very fact that Jerusalem is both terrestrial and celestial means that the city can exist anywhere: new Jerusalems have been founded all over the world and everyone has their own vision of Jerusalem.” - Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem
‘This Body, My City’ is a piece of solo-devised autobiographical theatre that combines journalism and poetry to depict a woman and a city grieving together in the wake of personal and political crises.
Presented at the Victorian College of the Arts as the culmination of research undertaken as part of the BFA Honours (Theatre Practice) program in 2017, the work draws from autobiographical and site-specific performance practices to explore how trauma narratives become inscribed on cities and on bodies.
Dogged by stubborn body dysphoria, the ghost of an anorexic teenager angrily existing inside her adult body, Charlotte arrives in Jerusalem, awed by the city’s intricate histories and interlocking expressions of faith. Jerusalem’s architecture becomes like a friend to her; both their borders having been repeatedly redrawn, teetering in a state between division and unity.
However, when the Temple Mount Crisis breaks out, triggering riots and deaths across the city, her idealism is shaken. ‘This Body, My City’ captures the moment that Charlotte’s Jerusalem crumbles.
This work is an artistic response to personal and political crises; by reframing her body as a site, conflating it with the mythic qualities of the Old City of Jerusalem. She finds language for womens’ bodies as a battleground, and for the capacity of her body, like this ancient site, to endure and survive.
Writing, direction and performance Charlotte Salusinszky
Outside Eye Dana McMillan
Mentor Budi Miller
Photography Charlotte Salusinszky
