Running out of Breath

Building on Part 1, this second ofering deepens the performative dimension of my practice. Running out of Breath revisits my time in residence at the Dahlem Ethnological Museum in 2014—a moment of deep encounter with the colonial archive and its residues. Presented through a constellation of performative actions, ceremonial gestures, archival imagery, soundscapes, spoken word, and moving image, this lecture unfolds as an embodied archive. Rather than recounting, I re-live and re-member—ofering the body as a site of return, rupture, and resistance. The collections I once encountered behind glass now dwell within me: carried, reconfgured, and activated through performance. This piece invites refection on the museum not just as a container of objects, but as a charged space where breath, memory, and matter converge.

Sistar S’pacifc aka Rosanna Raymond is an artist, performer, and cultural activist known for her dynamic contributions to contemporary Moana Nui (Pacifc) arts. Her embodied practice, or acti.VĀ.tions, critiques colonial museum traditions and activates the Vā Body—a living vessel that holds space with ancestral, present, and future narratives. Raymond’s work bridges performance, installation, and dialogue to keep culture alive through innovation and relational practice.