The Invisibility Project focuses on issues surrounding the invisibility of middle-aged women, with particular emphasis on the performing/dancing body. My aim is to heighten the visibility of middle-aged women focusing on my performing-self within the everyday, to celebrate the benefits of this invisibility and to challenge it’s negative implications and side effects.
Initial start up of the project was supported by an Australia Council Fellowship 2007-2009
Now You See Her
performance parties in peoples homes
Val, The Invisible
gallery durational work
Something In The Way She Moves
solo performance
You Wanna Dance With Somebody?
mobile dance party
Trouble: A Place in Time
large-scale film installation
“So what exactly were the ideas that led Long to conceive The Invisibility Project? She explains: “Initially, it appeared to me that wherever I looked in the media, there were endless articles on the invisibility of middle-aged women, and it was all about the loss of whatever one ever had. It was quite noticeable how relentless the coverage was.” Even though Long didn’t agree with the tone of the reporting, the subject matter struck a chord with her: “It was something that I could identify with, not only in my everyday life but also as an ‘ageing dancer,’ a performer who is going to put herself, her body, on stage in front of people watching…
Some of Long’s Invisibility outings over the last few years have shown signs of the dancer’s signature style, mixing acerbic wit and an idiosyncratic movement language with a series of pop songs from yesteryear and an array of fabulous costumes. Anyone, though, who has witnessed Mumsy’s chilling dance, completely disfigured by a mesh orange bag over her head, and Val’s forlorn wanderings through the cavernous Carriageworks and MCA, will recognise that Long is exploring a dark streak in The Invisibility Project and is far from shying away from the project’s distinctly political dimension.”(Martin del Amo, RT111 )