Prop and Generosity

Prop and Generosity Performance Art

For my prop and generosity performance piece I based it on a memory that I have of me and my grandpa. When I was younger me and my family would visit my grandma and grandpa's house in Waco a couple times a year. Me and my grandpa, Poppy Jo, would go in the front yard and sit on this stone bench under a pecan tree. He would then get a pecan shell from the tree, open it with his bare hands, and then share the pecans he opened with me. 

I made a prop for everyone that consisted of a container with each person's name on it and three pecans. Then a piece of paper handwritten for everyone to explain further the project, the paper said:

            In this simple thing my grandpa would do with me I felt his generosity 

and love towards me. I felt his generosity in those moments we used to

share together by him just giving me something so simple and small. 

            Now I would like to do an activity with you all. For this activity we will

go around and share a memory where you either felt similar to what I did 

        or just a time when you felt generosity from a family member and felt loved. 

           Then I invite you to all sit in silence as we remember and reflect on the

        memory you shared and then eat your pecans and enjoy that story to the fullest. 

-Rachel Yates

When starting to present my project I started with sharing the story of me and my grandpa and telling everyone how I felt his generosity through that. Then after people started reading the paper I asked if people could start sharing their stories. People started sharing very beautiful stories of either memories from one of their family members or a specific person that make them feel their generosity often. I thought that that exercise opened people up and were vulnerable. After almost everyone shared, I asked if they could remember and think about what they just shared and eat the pecans. While everyone was doing that, I could feel the thankfulness of how everyone felt for what they were thinking when eating those pecans. It was a very special moment and I felt as though my performance piece may have had an impact.