Paula Varjack

I'm an artist working in performance, video, and participation, creating at the crossroads of performance, pop culture, and social investigation. For 12 years, I've developed a practice combining rigorous research with playful experimentation, using performance to examine everything from the human cost of making art to media control and racial representation. I create cabaret-infused theatre blending direct address, video/sound design, and movement. Interviews and facilitation are often core to my R&D process.

Collaborative projects demonstrate my commitment to amplifying marginalized voices through innovative forms. These include 2021's digital performance iMelania (a "technically ingenious, reflective exploration of how information is disseminated online" — The Stage), made with filmmaker Chuck Blue Lowry, and, more recently, the ensemble performance Nine Sixteenths, developed with Complicite and co-commissioned by Brixton House and Cambridge Junction.

Thematically, my work explores how female, queer, POC, and QTIPOC identities navigate systems of media, status, and cultural expectation. My practice seeks to reveal how power operates through the cultural phenomena we often take for granted.