"BLIND CONTOUR" PROJECT
“Blind Contour" is a visual art, poetry + dance piece created by artistic partners Zoe Rappaport and Libby Mislan.
Birthed in 2011 in Bushwick Brooklyn, Libby’s poem “Blind Contour” describes a female body which Zoe both danced and drew while listening to Libby’s words and without looking at the paper, crafting a blind contour drawing. If you read Libby's poem and start at the foot, you can trace Zoe’s subconscious along as it spirals through each body part. What emerged is a celebration of all of the beautiful intricacies -- inside and out -- that make the female body move, groove, shake, express, feel, and ultimately — dance.
Years later, Zoe re-created the original blind contour image on 30 x 12” wood panels with Japanese Sumi ink and acrylic paint for a fundraiser for the Young Choreographers' Project in Los Angeles. The remaining paintings have been utilized as set design for a performance work choreographed by Zoe at Human Resources LA, and displayed at Pilates & Arts in Echo Park. Blind contour paintings & upcycled clothing are available for custom order — please e-mail rappaportdance@gmail.com for inquiries.
Close your eyes and draw a blind contour...
My breath in slow counts of fours
My feet long and firmly planted like fossils
Calves follow
That tighten under stress
Knees knobby like tiny pyramids
Let your pen wobble around them
Thighs like edamame curved lumps
Muscles encased inside
My belly button a deep soft abyss
Like shellfish
Hips light and puffy like a French curler
Breasts like the altitude map of a mountain
Circles upon circles upon circles
And my heart speeding
Inside outside outside inside
Feel me the way I feel myself
Fingernails pale smooth moons
Moles scattered organic
Like the night sky
Shoulders sloped back
Now wrap your pen around
And trace my backbone down
To the divet
Then braid it back up
To form my vertebrae
Splay out the strands of my hair
Sick with wisdom
Lips cracked
And my eyes with splotches
Like an ariel view
Of the planet
But keep yours closed
Keep yours closed
And tell me,
Can you begin to feel me?
-Libby Mislan
Original Blind Contour Drawing, 2011
Re-Created Blind Contour Paintings
Japanese Sumi ink & acrylic on wood
30 x 12"
The full Blind Contour image is created by putting 4 of the wood panels together.
The individual panels also work as stand-alone pieces and can be purchased separately.
Japanese Sumi ink & acrylic on canvas
30" x 24"