sentry (2018)







sentry is a two-hour moving image of two queer, Singaporean bodies in a white-centric country.

Sat on armchairs amidst potted plants, books, a kettle, and mugs of tea, one performer rests while the other one keeps watch. They swop at regular intervals. The domestic, private, and intimate comes up against an audience. A sense of voyeurism permeates the space between.

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Situated in a vintage clothing store, sentry was performed twice: once at (1) the loading bay and once at (2) the shopfront window. The latter location was a stronger activation of the performance.

This performance gave my body the strange and charged discomfort of being seen. As we were performing during the shop's opening hours, we confused a number of shoppers. One of them went to the cashier to ask about our presence, our eating and lounging in full view without any protest from the staff. Why were people at rest, at care, in a retail space? Why were those in charge of the space unbothered by such behaviour?

At some point, white men made faces at us, especially my partner, through the glass, finding our presence, or appearance, amusing.



Created & performed by
Ang Kia Yee and Louise Marie Lee

Supported by
Beatfreeks

Performance(s)
Festival of Audacity
COW Birmingham, UK / 27-29 September 2018

Photographs
Paul Stringer


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