Step One
Step One engages architecture, poetry and improvised movement to weave a narrative about a lifetime spent in the same body. Zoë uses a feminist politics of autoethnographic self-authorship to destabilise stable notions of fixed self. Prioritising one’s own narrative of a body reclaims agency by describing experience in owns own terms. Melissa Keler-Tuberg and Zoë’s collaboration gives agency and self-determination back to the body, showing the strength in surviving and living with the experience of eating disorders. Step One is part of the Visible project where headspace partnered artists and youth mental health advocates to produce an insightful collection of creative expressions that shine a light on our real experiences facing mental health challenges.
You get this body who danced on the school oval when she was meant to be playing footy. Who swam full oceans. Who danced for hours when no one was watching. Who conquered empires as a fairy queen and a pirate
Step One, 2020
7:13 single channel video
Step One was performed by Zoë Bastin, produced by Chantelle Mitchell with Photography and video documentation by Madeline Bishop. Visible was co-ordinated by headspace, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, and supported by a cross-sector group comprising of Batyr, Beyond Blue, Black Dog Institute, Butterfly Foundation,Consumers Health Forum of Australia, Mind, Orygen, ReachOut and SANE Australia.