BWA (Welsh meaning ‘arch’, pronounced boo-ah) is a performance collaboration between Esyllt Angharad Lewis and Emma Lewis-Jones exploring the limitations of translation and complexities of non-verbal communication. The pair talk and move with a strip of flexiply in an amusing study of body language between two people – translated in the connecting strip of wood.
The duet exists between Esyllt, a Welsh bilingual visual artist and translator, and Emma, a monolingual choreographer of Welsh descent; both queer, both pushing the limits of their physicality. BWA plays with lesbianism, liminality and language and has existed in a multitude of contexts with enthusiastic and surprised audiences. The work changes every time depending on the limitations of space and audience reactions. BWA has been performed in nightclubs, town halls and shopping centres, art galleries and pedestrian streets; it seeks to democratize performance art.
As seen at Perform Space Glasgow, Glasgow School of Art preview show for Mlitt 2022, The Devils Brief Club in Moffat, Arcade Campfa Cardiff, Goethe Institut Glasgow and most recently at The Work Room, following a residency in winter 2024-5.
Above images from Goethe Institut by Amy Sinead Moran and below images from Arcade Campfa by Ren Faulkner.
