A WOMAN’S PLACE
A Woman’s Place is a series of site-specific and performance-based installations examining the role of women within dancehall culture. The project questions the tension between empowerment and objectification, exploring how women navigate spaces that both celebrate and challenge their presence.
Initially developed as part of a collaborative performance with choreographer Erica Rae Smith-Gooden for the Kennedy Center’s Local Dance Commissioning Project in 2018, the work combined projected imagery with spoken word to evoke the voices and movements of women in dancehall. The series was later expanded into a large-scale vinyl wall installation titled Stepping Into the Role, presented at Suite 66 in Sydney, Australia.
Through layered visuals and performance-based elements, A Woman’s Place reflects on dancehall’s complex representation of women — as cultural innovators, as performers, and as subjects of scrutiny — revealing the resilience and agency at the heart of this dynamic subculture.
