Commonwealth and Council

LET'S USE THESE THINGS

Taisha Paggett

Images

LET'S USE THESE THINGS is a performative installation built around Fila Buster, a figure who attempts to choreograph questions around how we relate to the objects of the world and make use of them. LET'S USE  THESE THINGS is an altar to time, memory, history and the possibilities of new meaning through repetition. LET'S USE THESE THINGS is a work that believes everything that has ever been is here and ready for you.


Taisha Paggett makes things and is interested in what bodies do. She believes language is tricky, thoughts are powerful, and that people are most beautiful when looking up. Her work for the stage, gallery and public sphere include individual and collaborative  investigations into questions of the body, agency and the phenomenology of race, and has been presented locally, nationally and internationally. She's been a Guest Lecturer at the Dance Center of Columbia College in Chicago since 2010. In addition to her group choreography and solo  durational works, she has worked collaboratively, toured with and made significant creative contributions to the projects of Meg Wolfe, Victoria Marks, David Roussève, Cid Pearlman, Cheng-Chieh Yu, Baker-Tarpaga Projects, Kelly Nipper and Rebecca Alson-Milkman. Paggett is a former member of Ultra-red and maintains an ongoing collaborative project with visual artist Ashley Hunt, “On movement, thought and  politics,” which has taken form as workshop, performance, video and  mixed media installation. She holds a MFA from UCLA’s Department of  World Arts and Cultures/Dance and is a co-instigator of itch dance journal.