In December 2024, Teague Oak McDaniel (they/he) broke their thumb while competing in a queer wrestling match with Silen Wellington (they/he). As Teague recovered, the two artists reflected on the manifold interpretations of their time wrestling and the resulting mark it left on Teague’s body. In the months following, they worked to develop Grapple–a cyclical game of chance that renders each performance unique.

In Grapple, Teague and Silen literally grapple to win rounds of a leg-wrestling game. The winner of each round is awarded the opportunity to recite lines of poetry. In the prose, each artist tenderly grapples with their own masculinity, spirituality, and self-expression.

Grapple was designed to create balance by carving out space in the in-betweenness of the seemingly opposite phenomenon: internal and external, physical and ethereal, masculine and feminine.

Teague McDaniel & Silen Wellington’s performance is part of Performance Art Week XIII. For more information, click here.