I am a UK based artist working in performance, choreography and live art. I also work as a dramaturg, educator and writer and am a founder member of artist collective Residence.
My work is concerned with identity, sensory perception, and human encounter and explores how our physical bodies experience the world around us and how this sensory experience can or cannot be conveyed. My work is informed by my identity as a disabled woman with albinism and attempts to unpick the ways we look, hear and sense our immediate environment in order to rethink or make unfamiliar these intrinsic human behaviours. My performances often manifests as intimate encounters designed for single or small audiences alongside staged theatre work and installations.
I have presented work in the UK, Europe, South America, USA, China, South Korea and Australia including The Barbican, IBT Festival, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Arnolfini, Itau Cultural Sao Paulo, Battersea Arts Centre, The Times Museum Guangzhou, Gessneralle Zurich, and the National Theatre.
My work is supported by a number of organisations including Arts Council England, British Council, Unlimited and MAYK. I have received major commissions and funding to support the making and touring of my work alongside critical acclaim for my work from national and international press.
“this show is a little miracle.”
“Doubt and disturbance come to a climax in Jo Bannon’s powerfully penetrating performance.”
“Jo Bannon’s Exposure lasts 10 minutes, but it is the most perfect 10 minutes in near-darkness you’ll experience in theatre.”
“Exposure tells a small but perfectly formed story – a timeless experience, rich and resonant.”
“one of the best things I’ve heard or seen it quite some time…captivating to both experience and to hear. With dark comedy and Bannon giving a brilliant theatrical performance…”