Fragility Performance by Ciarra K. Walters

Artist Ciarra K. Walters slowly puts on her Fragility Suit made up of pantyhose and cracked eggshells. As she stretches her body in it, the suit begins to rip and the eggshells fall to the floor, creating beautiful crunching and clinking sounds with each move Walters makes. Once the suit is completely on, she presses her body against walls and other surfaces to crush every eggshell off her body. This performance helps the artist and audience face what most cannot: our fragility and fragile existence. This performance is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Mark Me, Too curated by Dr. Rikki Byrd. The performance will be followed by a conversation between the artist and Dr. Byrd.

About Ciarra K. Walters:

Ciarra K. Walters (b. 1992) is a visual artist and educator based in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She received her MFA in Photography + Media & Society from The Maryland Institute College of Art in 2024. Her art practice examines the body as a site of agency, self-discovery, and environmental resonance through an interdisciplinary approach using performance, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. She transforms her body into temporary sculptures using materials like wire, eggshells, and nylons, blurring the boundaries between the self and the environment. Her ritualistic performances and movement work are characterized by spontaneity, intuition, and trust in the body’s capacity for self-expression.

About Dr. Rikki Byrd:

Dr. Rikki Byrd is a writer, educator, and curator. She is the founder of Black Fashion Archive and the co-founder of the Fashion and Race Syllabus, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Visual Culture Studies at the University of Texas at Austin in the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Art and Art History. Across her writing, teaching, and curatorial projects, she draws connections between Black aesthetic practices, including 20th and 21st century art, fashion studies, and performance.

Host or Publisher Hyde Park Art Center