Cassils
Human Measure
2021
HOME, Manchester | first UK solo exhibition | world premiere for stage
Curator | exhibition, world premiere for stage
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Human Measure (live) was developed with the support of the Paul D. Fleck Fellowship residency at Banff Centre, and with support from Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, initiated by Carol A. Stakenas and Jacqueline Bell.
With additional thanks to Canadian Stage for their continued support.
All copyright Cassils
“For this artist, the medium is the body’.
The New York Times, Oct 2021
“If art exists to hold a mirror up to humanity, then Cassils' performances speak to the extremes we can push ourselves to.”
CNN, Oct 2021
Life is a Performance: Cassils
Trebuchet Magazine, Oct 2021
Human Measure Gives Space To Trans Bodies: Interview with Cassils & Jasmine Albuquerque
Dance Art Journal, Dec 2021
Cassils is a transgender visual artist who makes their own body the material and protagonist of their performances. Working in live performance, sculpture, photography, sound design and film, Cassils contemplates the history(s) of LGBTQI+ violence, representation, struggle and power.
For Cassils, performance is a form of social sculpture: drawing from the idea that bodies are formed in relation to forces of power and social expectations, their work investigates historical contexts to examine the present moment.
Referencing conceptualism, feminism, and body art, Cassils powerfully trains their body for different performative purposes, committing to a process of extreme physical and psychological endurance. By positioning their body as a battleground, it is with sweat, blood, and sinew that Cassils shares experiences for contemplating histories of violence, representation, struggle, and survival.
Human Measure was Cassils’ first UK solo exhibition and a 10-year survey at a critical moment for advocacy. The exhibition ran from Sat 2 Oct through to Sun 12 Dec 2021. New critical and creative responses to Cassils’ practice were commissioned for the occasion by Dominic Johnson, Jay Bernard and Libro Levi Bridgeman.
The exhibition was accompanied by the world premiere of Cassils’ first piece of contemporary dance, Human Measure (2021). A collaboration with choreographer Jasmine Albuquerque, who has worked with the likes of St Vincent, Devandra Banhart, Laura Marling and Mike Mills, the performance draws upon personal safety, vulnerability and problematises visibility in a moment of heightened violence against the GNC/Trans community.
The New York Times ran a full-page feature interview across both print and digital editions, despatching a journalist to cover the Manchester premiere, with additional coverage from the likes of the LA Times and CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
Performers included Cassils, Jahmarley Bachelor, Ben Curtis, Jasmine Lin, Iona Lily McGuire and Alucard Mendoza McHaney. Lighting Design by Christopher Kuhl, Composer & Producer Cristy Michel, Associate Producer Charles Hickey, Stage Manager Gina Young, Cyanotype Advisor Bonny Taylor. Performance photography by Manuel Vason.
The live work for stage made its US and Canadian debuts in Oct 2022, at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney Cal/Arts Theater), Los Angeles, and at Canadian Stage, Toronto. The performers on these occasions were Canyon Carballossa, Cassils, Kaydence De Mere, B Gosse, Jasmine Lin and Alucard Mendoza McHaney.
Main image: Manuel Vason, courtesy Cassils | cyanotype advisor: Bonnie Taylor
