I'm Dying — My Last Performance

Linda Mary Montano

2015 | 00:00:29 | United States | English | Color | Stereo | HD video

Collection: Single Titles

Tags: Aging, Death and Dying, Performance

I once read a story about the Tibetan Buddhist Master, Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche in a book by death-teacher, Steven Levine. Trungpa went into his son's room and said to him, "I'm dying." And then he said to his son, "You are dying too." This story made a deep impression on me because death is the last taboo, the hidden boogey-man, the unspeakable. It was a beautiful lesson in impermanence this father gave his son. As I age, not so gracefully, I keep thinking and saying inside, "Linda, you are getting close to dying." But this is not done for spiritual teachings for myself but as a prompt to terror and fear. So, of course, I decided to make art about this sentence and will say to myself, "I'm dying" whenever I feel the urge to frighten myself. Art heals, you know, even this rinky-dink video of myself, mouthing the words. But someday I will say I'm dying and it will be really true. If I have undertaken this performance correctly, I will go towards the light with gusto.

— Linda Montano

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