Washing Water

A4 Museum, Chengdu, China 2024

23 min Duration

The work explores the tension between control and surrender, the intimate struggle of identity, and the recurring cycle of destruction and renewal. Alex Conway begins in a state of vulnerability—bare-chested, soaked in water, crawling through a large purple velvet curtain. The curtain functions as a threshold, a symbolic passage between inner and outer worlds.

Through movement, Conway engages with simple yet transformative objects, including clear bottles of water. Holding them to the eyes as the water pours, Conway distorts vision, inviting the audience to consider how perception can shift, flow, and blur. The body becomes both the site of conflict and of resolution. Pressed against a wall, Conway’s right hand—embodying impulse or subconscious desire—attempts to overpower the body, while the left hand intervenes in a struggle for control.

Breath plays a central role in the performance, operating as both a physical and spiritual tool of resistance and transformation. Conway blows the rebellious hand away, reshaping it into a pulsating heart—an image of fragility, vulnerability, and connection. Through moments of collapse, the work seeks to reclaim what feels lost.

The appearance of a young girl in a yellow dress introduces innocence into the layered narrative, suggesting renewal or a past self guiding the artist forward. The performance concludes as it began, with Conway moving back through the curtain, leaving the audience with lingering impressions of heartbeat rhythms, dripping water, and breath. The work aims to create a visceral, poetic experience in which the body tells a story of struggle, resilience, and the void.