In this trailblazing work of performance art (more than 2 million YouTube views), Signe Pierce illustrates the fragility and precariousness of human existence. Her 15-minute video (recorded by her collaborator Alli Coates) shows Pierce wearing a figure-hugging blue dress, lime-green stilettoes, and a cyborg-like reflective mask that completely covers her face as she ambles down a crowded street in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Bystanders leer and lust after her, press their body against hers, and splash water over her as they desperately try to figure out her gender and identity. As the video progresses, they turn increasingly cruel and feral. By the end, a rogue teen shoves Pierce to the ground, leaving her with bleeding knees.
In “American Reflexxx,” we witness an artist putting her life at risk simply by presenting a work of performance art. In a nation where gun violence is rampant and claims so many innocent lives, Pierce survives the experiment, but only just. Her ordeal is a reminder that life is short, and that the gratuitous violence that human beings inflict on each other can make it even shorter.