&lt;i&gt;Not At Home&lt;/i&gt;: The Affective Labour of Repealing the 8th Amendment

Shonagh Hill

doi:10.20897/femenc/11754

Abstract

This article analyses the durational art campaign, Not At Home, through the lens of affect theory in order to explore how performance moves us: physically and emotionally; individually, but also socially and collectively. First performed in 2017, Not At Home, created by Grace Dyas (THEATREclub) and Emma Fraser (Nine Crows) focuses on the journey to Britain from Ireland undertaken by abortion-seeking women. Following a referendum in 1992, the right to travel for an abortion was inserted into the Irish Constitution, and thus it became legal for Ireland to export the need for abortion services. Not At Home draws on women’s testimonies of their journeys to communicate the lived reality of the 8th Amendment as told by those who have experienced the consequences. The recreation of the journey through performance is, the article argues, best understood through affect theory. The analysis explores the affective labour undertaken by the audience, to quote Sara Ahmed, of ‘moving and being moved as a form of labour or work, which opens up different kinds of attachments to others, in part through the recognition of this work as work.’ (The Cultural Politics of Emotion).

Highlights

Following the legalisation of abortion in Britain in 1967, thousands have made the journey ‘across the water’ from Ireland to access abortion services
The journey to Britain undertaken by abortion-seeking women was the focus of the durational art campaign Not At Home, created by Grace Dyas (THEATREclub) and Emma Fraser (Nine Crows)
This contributed to the process of breaking the silence around abortion experiences, a process that was so vital to the victory of the campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment in the 2018 referendum

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Following the legalisation of abortion in Britain in 1967, thousands have made the journey ‘across the water’ from Ireland to access abortion services. Led by Dyas’ courage, other women followed suit and Colgan became national news as they disclosed stories of inappropriate touching, highly sexualised comments, and workplace bullying Dyas revealed that her decision to speak out was inspired by Waking the Feminists (WTF), a grassroots campaign set up in November 2015 to address gender equality in Irish theatre. The possibility of conceiving new forms through which women can voice their experiences and be heard to effect change was illustrated by the Citizen’s Assembly in Ireland which was created in 2016 and comprised 99 randomly selected Irish citizens They considered a range of important issues including the 8th Amendment. In order to think about transforming the act of listening into the potential to effect change, I want to turn to consideration of the participatory demands that Not At Home makes on audience members: how engagement in affective labour has the potential to result in their being moved emotionally and politically, and possibly into action

THE AFFECTIVE LABOUR OF PARTICIPATION

THE JOURNEY THROUGH NOT AT H OME

THE WAITING ROOM

THE RECOVERY ROOM