Performed at Westbeth Gallery, New York

March 8, 2025



Created in response to Woman Ironing, a poem by Olga Cabral (1909–1997), one of Westbeth’s early residents, this performance breathes new life into Cabral’s words through recitation, sound, movement, and audience engagement. It seeks to renew the connection between past and present, creating a space for reflection, dialogue, and solidarity—a collective bond that transcends time.

The performance was presented as the opening event of The Faraway Nearby (TFN), a group exhibition featuring eight Asian women artists who participated in a five-month dialogue project curated by Jiyeon Paik at Westbeth Gallery in New York.

"Woman Ironing"

A poem by Olga Cabral

(1909 - 1997 / Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago)

I am ironing the dress in which I ran from the prom

I am ironing my favorite dresses of long ago

I am ironing the dresses I did not have

and the ones that I did have, stitched so finely of fog

I am ironing the dress of water in which I met you

I am ironing our tablecloth of sun and our coverlet of moon

I am ironing the sky

I am folding the clouds like linen

I am ironing smoke

I am ironing sad foreheads and deep wrinkles of despair

I am ironing sackcloth

I am ironing bandages

I am ironing huge damp piles of worries

I am smoothing and patting and folding and hanging over chairs to air out and dry

I am ironing the tiniest things but for whom or for what I cannot imagine

I am ironing my shadow which is ironing me.

Sound design by Jess Ramsay

Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk