Courtney May Robertson: HUNTER

Together with her hyper-realistic life-sized doppelgänger in doll form, Courtney May Robertson weaves a tapestry of images in which the grotesque, (sexual) perversion and emotional excess become triumphant symbols for bodily autonomy and empowerment. The duo – one of flesh and blood, the other crafted from foam and silicone – map out the internal torments and ecstasies of an individual in conflict with an archaic society that upholds purity as a moral standard.

Spectators are invited to enter the depths of a private locked room where the rigid dichotomy between repulsion and attraction dissolves. Robertson is convinced that when shame is suspended the emotion of disgust, generally associated with aversion, has the capacity to transform into paradoxical intrigue. Propelled by an industrial soundscape composed by Acidic Male, in HUNTER self-destruction is embraced as an act of self-preservation.

HUNTER was awarded the VSCD Mime/Performance Prize 2024 at the Nederlands Theater Festival and listed in newspaper NRC’s 10 Best Dance Performances of 2024.


WITHOUT LANGUAGE