If I Were A Monument 2017
Mayworks Festival, Toronto
Curated by Nahed Mansour
With Lewanne Salmon
Photo Credit: Henry Chan 

Would you rather be an idol or an icon? A statue or a monument? From the Latin moneo or monere meaning “to remind” or “to warn,” a monument is an architectural structure that commemorates a person or an important event. As an object, a monument is the avatar of cultural memory and shared history important to a particular social group. When Liliefeldt titles her last performance, If I Were a Monument, she is performing her usual sleight of hand, and doing two things at once. As a statement, she is directing our attention to a full circle, reminding us that she is ending where she started. She alludes to the closing of a chapter—after all this might be her last performance. Simultaneously she also asks a question

~ Shannon Cochrane 2016