A Becoming A Master of Ugly/Sexy. The Draedalix Experience

Berman, Nora Sophie

My works deal with notions of contemporary spirituality through painting, per- formance, and sculpture. I am exploring how art can be a gateway into a con- sciousness of metaphysical ideas through a materially based practice, signified by a gestural and energetically charged approach to painting, and often working at a colossal scale.
My performance operates as a transpersonal experience. It is a guided journey motivated by my desire to shift beyond the boundaries of ordinary ego-con- sciousness as a result of traversing through a spectrum of mind states: from despair to grace to awe. By assuming the role of my spiritual moniker, Draedalix, I become the subject of the transformative ritual that shatters my identity in order to connect me beyond the conception of self and to wider aspects of consciousness, to the spirit world. The performance takes place around a totemic painting, a sculpted pond and drawn symbols on the floor.
Draedalix embodies the ugly, the sexy, and everything in between through her actions and spoken words within the act, a process that pushes her to become a master of the duality of Ugly/Sexy, the notion of one’s personal felt actuality versus their imagined potentiality. This duality is the basis of the teachings of Draedalix. She believes it is necessary to master Ugly/Sexy in order to ascend to higher levels of awareness.

Basel, 2018

http://www.noraberman.com/