Carrying That Weight

Performance art and reclaiming female autonomy

A strong topic of discussion across universities around the world has been the assault of Jane Doe at Cornell University. But this is not the first time sexual assault has occurred on a university campus, and this isn’t the first time the wake has caused meaningful discussion. Twelve years ago, Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz began carrying a mattress with her across campus. Anyone who ran into her on a given day would immediately be given access to a private part of her life, as if just by looking at her they had barged into her bedroom. The mattress was nondescript and hard, standard for Columbia first-years, and what trapped her during the most traumatic moment of her life. 

In 2012, Sulkowicz was raped in her dorm. Following this, she was constantly reminded of the horrors she’d experienced, carrying the burden every day as the school did nothing to punish her rapist. In response to her assault, she decided that for her senior visual arts final, Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight), she’d carry her mattress with her every day until her rapist was expelled from the University.  Unfortunately, that day never came and, while Sulkowicz carried her mattress with her across her graduation stage, the man who attacked her walked too, free of responsibility. Any student who wanted to offer her help could have — most didn’t. In 2014, women from college campuses across America joined her, carrying their own mattresses across campus in protest of the environments conducive to rape on their own campuses. 

Women have used performance art as a form of protest for decades. Notably, Marina Abramović’s Rhythm Zero — in which she remained completely still for six hours whilst passersby had the opportunity to do her harm with any object she had laid out — startlingly revealed how people, mainly men, will act when they feel entitled to a body. 

Autonomy is always at the forefront of discourse surrounding women. In these works, the artists explore different versions of what happens when that autonomy is taken away. Whenever conversations begin about women's bodily autonomy, people are quick to jump in yet, when it’s time to take action, there seems to be a failure to follow through. 

Consequences, rather than human decency, typically end up being the motivators against sexual assault. However, as both of these pieces reveal, when consequences are taken away or unenforced, a frightening culture of violence against women is unleashed. Women like Sulkowicz have been forced into silence by their communities to aid those in power. Whether it be by avoidance from an embarrassed friend to the abuser or discouragement from a dean who doesn’t want an assault case on their campus, each participant contributes to a culture of shame which forces women into silence. 

Women have been carrying their own invisible mattresses for years. They’re cracking, they’re stained, and the foam has gone brittle, but even as the years take their toll, the weight remains immense. Some of history's most important works have been created in moments of strife. By channelling their trauma through performance art, women have reclaimed their agency by bringing powerful discussions out of the shadows and into the mainstream.

Illustration by Kyla Biesty