LINDA MARY MONTANO TALKS TO NICOLÁS ABOUT AGING

Montano says: “We all age. This is inevitable. Artists age, non-artists age. As a performance artist, my body is, has been and will always be my canvas, my clay, my paint, my material, and aging has brought an incredible menu to the table...a smorgasburg of physical, mental, physical, psychological and spiritual issues for me to choose from and work with and present to myself and others. One such issue is THE NURSING HOME! The dreaded last stop for many of us. And my theory is that if we prepare now, if we take care of our fears and angers and betrayals and jealousies, and rages. NOW while we can still transform these obscurations into acceptance, then we will make it easier on the 40847 UNDERPAID nurses aides and caregivers who will feed, bathe and change our Depends. My presentation is an opportunity to bring up this subject as a discussion and then together watch my video NURSE NURSE, with participation from the audience as nurses and other personas that the video elicits. This presentation will last about one hour and it is not only a transformational experience but also a chance to heal unspoken fears and terrors regarding the fear of dying and death itself. After the event we will have a Q and A.”

This text was written by Linda Mary Montano as she prepared to perform at the Elizabeth Foundation Project Space for As Far as the Heart Can See, 2018