photos by Jenny Kroftova

31 actions: Crosstraining for Teaching Myself to Love
On my 31st birthday I did a 5.5 hr long performance above the BART station at 16th and Mission in San Francisco. To learn to teach myself, I began by seeking out lessons from others. A few weeks in advance, I asked my community to send me, via email or text, suggestions for actions that took less than 20 mins to complete based on the concept of “Teaching Myself to Love”. I performed/interpreted 31 of the actions I received in the order in which I received them, starting at 11:11 am on 11-11-09.

This was the official beginning of a longer umbrella project “Teaching Myself to Love” in which I proactively explore love and loving in my body, my interactions, and our cultural mythology. Through a variety of actions, small daily practices, performances, and pieces in varying media I work my lover muscles.
I hunt, rummage and probe into relationships with myself/body, sex, romance, family, friends, community, spirituality and the greater world (society and the environment). In a time when there is no clear recipe, regimen, or curriculum to learn love, I will teach myself.

Mabel Jimenez, a photojournalism student at SF State wrote this piece and worked with Lindsey Leake to produce an audio slideshow on 31:Crosstraining… click the yellow bar on the right of the story (under the header Rich Media) for the slideshow/audio. More photos on my performance page.

…and I floss.