In 2018 Fontaine developed an auto immune disease which left her unable to perform for many months. Until this point, her work had been almost entirely performance based. This seismic shift led her to reassess the agency of her body, both as performer and woman.  She gained a new perspective, seeking to redefine her own physicality and sexuality, and comprehend and accept the changes she would have to live with. Her body would continue to be centre stage, though its agency shifted from being the object of her work to its subject.

 

In order to continue her artistic practice, Fontaine reframed her evolving identity, acknowledging it without allowing it to define her, and as a coping mechanism and way of processing her situation, she began to produce drawings.

Through her performance, writing and drawing, Liv Fontaine speaks through the language of trauma, humour, pain and pleasure, from a woman’s perspective. Calling on influences of early Punk Feminist performance, and the work of Lydia Lunch and Lee Lozano, Fontaine raises her voice to confront the systemic problems and complications that women face now and have done throughout history. 

 

Caregiver, objector, entertainer and lover, Liv Fontaine is many things. Her story is one of crisis, empathy, utter pleasure and impending doom. Perhaps there is no such thing as a breakdown, only a breakthrough.