Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue live performance, duration 6h, Residence Unlimited, NYC, 2023

boryana petkova, performance, contemporary art
Mother Tongue 2023, photo Residency Unlimited

I wrote  8 phrases on 8 different knives in Bulgarian, my mother tongue.

« I am your mother – I gave birth to you, so I can kill you !

Don’t eat chocolate,  you will become fat.

You don’t appreciate what I did for you.

Im your mother , so you will make what I want !

I don’t want to be a grandmother!

Don’t become a mother because your life will finish. »

I wrote on my tongue  « Mother tongue ».  For six hours,  I cleaned all the knives by licking them  with my « mother » tongue until the written phase disappeared. I « shaved » and « cleaned » my tongue us well.  I « sharpen’d » it like a pencil. And spit out the ink. 

Mother tongue could « care » but could also hurt. It could erase and provoke pain. It could defend and attack you. Mother’s love is the first battle in our life and we confront  it from the moment of our conception.

Mother Tongue 2023, photo Residency Unlimited
Mother Tongue 2023, photo Residency Unlimited

 boryana petkova, artistique performance, mother tongue, contemporary art
Mother Tongue 2023, photo Pavle Banovic
boryana petkova, performance, nyc
Mother Tongue 2023, photo Residency Unlimited