In Conversation: Paola Paz Yee and Victor Martinez Diaz. In: The Phenomenology of Blood in Performance Art

This conversation explores the role of the body in contemporary performance art through the works of Paola Paz Yee and Victor Martinez Diaz, both of whom engage with themes of violence, identity, and the corporeal as a site of resistance. Their performances challenge dominant narratives of gender, power, and institutional control by utilizing the body as both a subject and medium of artistic inquiry.
Yee’s Indelible (2009) interrogates biometric classification and state surveillance through the act of drilling into her fingerprint, disrupting the body's role as an identifier. This intervention critiques the permanence of identity markers and the ways in which institutional systems enforce classification. Her work Una Serie de Caprichos (2015) further examines systemic violence through ritualistic imagery, where the insertion of blood-filled boots and the use of a pig’s head evoke critiques of patriarchal and capitalist structures. By engaging in bodily transformation and acts of sacrifice, Yee highlights the inextricable links between personal and collective trauma.
Diaz’s Las 4 Devoraciones (2019) engages in corporeal destruction as a means of self-exploration, drawing from theories of anthropophagy and anti-colonial discourse. His work examines the body as a contested site, where the act of removing scabs to provoke bleeding symbolically gestures towards the rupturing of imposed boundaries. Through the lens of his experience with psoriasis, he problematizes societal discomfort with blood and bodily excess.
Both artists discuss the evolving reception of blood in performance art, reflecting on its historical significance in Mexico and beyond. Their dialogue reveals how endurance-based practices, bodily sacrifice, and ritual serve as potent tools for political critique, pushing the limits of performative and collective experience.