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I'm Dying — My Last Performance

Linda Mary Montano

2015 00:00:29 United StatesEnglishColorStereoHD video
Tags:
Aging, Death and Dying, Performance

Description

I once read a story about the Tibetan Buddhist Master, Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche in a book by death-teacher, Steven Levine. Trungpa went into his son's room and said to him, "I'm dying." And then he said to his son, "You are dying too." This story made a deep impression on me because death is the last taboo, the hidden boogey-man, the unspeakable. It was a beautiful lesson in impermanence this father gave his son. As I age, not so gracefully, I keep thinking and saying inside, "Linda, you are getting close to dying." But this is not done for spiritual teachings for myself but as a prompt to terror and fear. So, of course, I decided to make art about this sentence and will say to myself, "I'm dying" whenever I feel the urge to frighten myself. Art heals, you know, even this rinky-dink video of myself, mouthing the words. But someday I will say I'm dying and it will be really true. If I have undertaken this performance correctly, I will go towards the light with gusto.

— Linda Montano

About Linda Montano

Originally trained as a sculptor, Linda Montano began using video in the 1970s. Attempting to obliterate the distinction between art and life, Montano's artwork is starkly autobiographical and often concerned with personal and spiritual discipline. She spent two years in a convent and studied Yoga and Zen. In 1983, Montano and artist Tehching Hsieh were literally tied together for one year in a living performance. Her avowed interest lies in "learning how to live better through life-like artworks," with personal growth evolving out of shared experience, role adoption, and ritual. Exploring a wide range of subjects, from personal transformation and altered consciousness (Primal Scenes, 1980) to hypnosis and eating disorders (Anorexia Nervosa, 1980), Montano's work from the '70s and early '80s was critical in the development of video by, for, and about women. Her early work includes Mitchell's Death (1978), Handcuff with Tom Marioni (1975), and Characters Learning to Talk (1976-78).

Also see:
Linda M. Montano 1984: An Interview

Linda M. Montano 2016: An Interview

Linda M. Montano's Seven Years of Living Art

Linda M Montano: 14 Years of Living Art