Francess Gannon

Email: pcfg@leeds.ac.uk
Thesis title: (In)accessible public toilets: Queer and feminist performance praxis investigating embodied rituals, accessibility, and bodily crisis.
Supervisors: Dr Jacki Willson, Dr Jenny Lawson, Dr Aylwyn Walsh

Profile

I graduated from Liverpool Hope University in 2016, where I earned a First-Class honours degree in Creative and Performing Arts and later gained a Distinction in my MA by Creative Practice in 2018. I have since performed one to one performance installations (Talking Stalls) in events across Liverpool, including Liverpool Light Night 2018, and Angel Field Festival 2019.

Research interests

I began studying Practice as Research at Leeds in 2022, exploring a solo performance praxis in relation to public toilet practices. As the research utilises a queer/feminist framework, it aims to produce publically engaged work that can address the friction between the public/private divide. The aim of the study is to deploy a performance practice that can address the ease of access, embodied practices and walking methods that the public must confront when in search of “public” toilet sites.

My performance practice implements methods in walking including loitering, drifting and remapping in and around the water closet. Researching public toilet sites can reflect the larger world outside of them, capturing a sense of accessibility, inclusivity, collectively, and empathy.

The research is funded by the School of Performance and Cultural Industries.

queer theory
feminist theory
toilet practices
solo performance
mapping/remapping
walking methods
crisis heterotopias
elsewhere-here
the body in crisis

Qualifications

MA by Creative Practice (Distinction)
BA with Honours in Creative and Performing Arts (First Class)