The celebrated performance artist Karen Finley examines loss of love, dignity, and humanity, and issues a call to beat back with an exquisite heart in a live performance at UMBC. Standing against a backdrop of film projections, Finley narrates a poetic call to action in resistance to today’s times. The performance is in two parts: In Part One, Grabbing Pussy, Finley considers embodiment and the invasion of the self, featuring selections from her provocative recent book of the same name. In Part Two, Parts Known — the political is personal, the personal is political — she examines the price and pain of personal tragedy amidst a political landscape of psychic dimensions.

Performance will be immediately followed by a Q&A with the artist; then a book signing and reception.