Precarious Gestures is a split screen black and white video.
2 cameras record a performance simultaneously. On the left there is a fixed wide-angle view from the floor. On the right a hand-held close-up camera follows me through the space.

This is a video of my daily ritual of allowing myself to fall and then struggling to get up again. The camera is at my back as I walk towards a column and draw a line, a record of my performances of this ritual. The videographer, with a handheld camera, appears briefly in front of me as she records my passage through the space. I walk away from the column, the sound of walking sticks alternating with the sound of my footsteps. I breathe. I turn back towards the camera. With intent, I drop my walking sticks and stand, precariously. Carefully, I lower myself to the floor. My body crashes to the floor. I begin to pull myself forward with my arms, inching towards a stool and my only way up from the floor. Breathing hard, I grab onto the stool, and pull myself up. Slowly, arduously, I push myself up onto the seat. I am finally on the stool. Breathing heavily. I look into the camera.

This installation of Precarious Gestures is accompanied by an interpretive audio description, a personal reflection on the experience of performing my daily ritual and of the performance of Precarious Gestures. My voice reads the text as it appears on the screen, white text on a black background.