Salomania

Salome, now a middle-aged woman, is caught in a relentless loop of her own story. She moves through repeating cycles with Herod, John the Baptist, and the Jester—a sinister, clown-like disruptor drawn from fin-de-siècle decadence. She alone can break the cycle, navigating a world that constantly watches and judges her. Every gesture and desire is measured by a gaze that seeks to categorize and control bodies—especially those marked by aging, neurological difference, and other forms of embodied nonconformity.

Blending shadowed theatricality and visceral movement with imagery from Salome’s turn-of-the-century cultural fever, Salomania makes this pressure palpable. Time fractures, authority destabilizes, and expectations unravel. Not a biblical retelling, the work is a dark meditation on spectacle, power, and a body that refuses to remain fixed in history.

Salomania was presented at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in May 2025 with support from the The Catwalk Institute.

By Meg Araneo

Creative Team: Tony Torn, David Skeist, Michael Mullen, Jess Applebaum, Edison Hong, and Meg Araneo.