Glass / Heels (in development).
Glass / Heels treats instability as a physical language. At its centre is an image: a body trying to navigate a bed of broken glass in eight-inch heels. The glass shifts, the heels slip, and the body has to continually find another way.
Throughout the work, physical encounters unfold between the body and materials. Glass is poured over skin. Light emanates through a surface of water. Movement in heels is interrupted when they shatter under body weight. The body recalibrates. A candy apple is pierced by broken glass and eaten. A pole introduces another surface where skin grips and gravity takes hold.
As these images stack up, they bleed into each other. Beauty and brutality collapse into the same frame. The body refuses to stay readable.
Specifications:
Iterations can range from 15 to 40mins
Planned future full-length work: 50mins
Artist & Performer: Skye Gellmann
2026 Development:
Live Video: Babi Bertoldi
Lighting Design: Sammy Read
Sound Design: Marcus Whale
Mould Maker: Sarah Parker
Milestones:
Wings Independent Fashion Festival (first 10min iteration 2024)
Wings Independent II (2025)
Phoeton group show Chrissie Cotter Gallery (2025)
SIRC_UIT presents INSEQUENCE (2025)
Critical Path (materials enquiry 2025)
Aether Ties presents Soft Collapse (2025)
The Last Salon (2026)
Dark Mofo (2026)
Queer Development Program (developed to 15mins, 2026)
Rex Cramphorn Studio Residency, Sydney University (first stage development with lighting, sound and Live Video, 45mins 2026)
MCA Divine Playhouse (excerpt, 2026)
Glass / Heels is made possible by the generous support of: Branch Nebula, Critical Path, Performance Space / PACT: Queer Development Program, & Sydney University’s Theatre and Performance Studies: Rex Cramphorn Residency.
