This is where I document the years of making itchy grief since 2023.
Central to the work is the acknowledgment of grief and the importance of "holding" space for one another. The performance emphasizes communal healing by creating a shared space where "fragile monuments" emerge from everyday objects, universal childhood songs, and play. These fragile monuments serve as markers of collective care, inviting viewers to be present and attentive to themselves and each other, fostering deeper connections in a world where both identity and belonging are transient. Each Itchy Grief is slightly different due to its improvisational nature.
Here is what I wrote for every edition of Itchy Grief posted through Cate McQuaid’s Substack:
Welcoming the Strangeness within https://drive.google.com/drive/home
itchy grief - threads of gentrifying , Blue Triangle Gallery, Boston Chinatown, 6.6.2025
itchy grief - threads of gentrifying , Blue Triangle Gallery, Boston Chinatown, 6.6.2025
itchy grief - repeat on peeling, MASSART x SOWA Gallery, 2.7.25
Itchy Grief, " we talked about tomorrow", Vivid Oblivion, Cambridge, MA 11.08.24.
In this edition, *Itchy Grief* sat down with "strangers" to discuss the future in response to the recent re-election in the United States, which took place two days ago.
Itchy Grief, " installed kiss on your forehead", Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA, 10.18. 2024
Performance Vignette
Image 1 : Save Chinatown No Arena Poster in Chinatown Philadelphia @nacsphilly @savechinatownphilly please follow their pages to get more info of how you can participate and support
Video 2: me asking 5 times “ who wants a kiss on your forehead” and the response from audiences in the room; we “good night-Ed” to each other as the ending of Itchy Grief
Video 3: me holding a generous audience member who offered their left hand for me to plant a Fragile Monument written “however” in their palm
Image 4: we co-planting the “however” and me taking off “how” left “ ever” in their palm with the narrative “ we don’t need however, you deserve forever”
Video 5 & 6: reading & teasing the fragmented poem
installed “ a kiss on the forehead” on my forehead with red die-cut
Video 7: folding my white shirt after dirt-writing “Itchy Grief” on the sleeves
Itchy Grief, " fragile monuments on the passage", 1420 Mass Ave, Havard Sq, MA 2024
Engaging with the spatial and contextual conditions of the site, Itchy Grief, a narrative-driven performance, investigates the temporal experience of loss through the integration of rituals, essays, and the materiality of the earth. This work interrogates the fragility of identity and the sense of belonging, invoking the concept of a "fragile monument"—a symbolic structure that embodies the impermanence of existence and the precariousness of occupying the liminal space between "others" and "strangers."
Itchy Grief, part I "dear uncle, this is the 245 days since I lose you forever", Warehouse XI, Somerville, MA 2024
Itchy Grief, part II "are you a stranger or a friend", Warehouse XI, Somerville, MA 2024
Itchy Grief, part Iii "we are constantly fearful of ours homelessness - this is what made others and us", Warehouse XI, Somerville, MA 2024