I'm a Phoenix, Bitch
Bryony Kimmings creates multi-platform art works which aim to provoke change. Through script and photographs this book documents the show I'm a Phoenix, Bitch, Kimmings' personal response to the trauma of having post-natal breakdown.
In 2016, Bryony nearly drowned. Postnatal breakdowns, an imploding relationship and an extremely sick child left her sitting beneath the waves hoping she could slowly turn to shell.
Two years later she was able to deal with life again, but wears the scars of that year like a dark and heavy cloak. Who do we become after trauma? How do we turn pain into power? How do we fly instead of drown?
Bryony Kimmings returned to performance in 2018 with her first solo show in nearly a decade. A mythical legend performed straight from a heart still pulsing with pain. Combining personal stories with epic film, soundscapes and ethereal music, Bryony creates a powerful, dark and joyful work about motherhood, heartbreak and finding inner strength.
"Bryony Kimmings’ solo performance is acutely painful in places but it’s actually an easy sell: this is an extraordinary piece of theatre. I’m a Phoenix, Bitch shows Kimmings is an artist of exceptional integrity, compassion, imagination and guts." (The Guardian)
We will need new myths to survive the end of existence as we know it; for Bryony it is that of the invincible and fearless woman; a tale Bryony wishes she had known from birth.
Inspired by the taboos, stigmas, anomalies and social injustices around her, Kimmings creates mind-blowing, multi-platform art works to provoke change.
The work centres around outlandish 'social experiments' that Kimmings conducts with genuine genius, intrigue and wholehearted fearless gusto. The artist sets her sights on the impossible and unconquerable, and turns the unspeakable into the year's hottest topic. Previous works have seen the artist retracing an STI to its source, spending 7 days in a controlled environment in a constant state of intoxication and becoming a pop star invented by a 9 year old. Bryony’s award winning work has toured across the world. Most recently to Soho Theatre, Antifest (Finland), Culturgest (Portugal), Fusebox Festival (Texas), The Southbank Centre, Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Australia) and Lisinski Operahouse (Croatia). Kimmings also mentors artists, teaches workshops, writes a popular arts blog, speaks on panels and is sometimes on the telly.