Theater of Love was a 2018 photographic performance work created by artist Amanda Shank in response to Ronald de Sousa’s 1992 essay “Love as Theater.”
It has since expanded into an ongoing creative exploration at the intersection of autobiography and erotic philosophy. Works contain elements of performance, collage, autofiction and portraiture and are currently focused on artist books as a form of temporal literary theater.
Additional work can be found at Index of Self-Study, a practice of visual/poetic self-archiving begun in 2005.
THEATER OF LOVETheater of Love was a pseudo-autobiographical performance work created in dialogue with the philosophies of Ronald de Sousa’s 1992 essay “Love as Theater.” Functioning as a series of cumulative photographic exchanges focused on the physical act of a kiss, Theater of Love was part aesthetic performance and part lived experience, with a correlating performance-score created upon completion of the work.
- Photographic performance: 2018, with Fernando Belo
Performance score:
2022
5.5 x 8.5
50 pages
Perfect bound
Limited edition of 25