The Anna Jarvis Project ~ by Alva Roselius
Alva Roselius's "The Anna Jarvis Project" was presented before live audience at Centrale Fies, Dro, Italy on August 8, 2025 as one of 24 acts, (curated by Elisa Giuliani) at the occasion of the AEROPONIC ACTS 2025: CHOREIA (convened by Gabriëlle Schleijpen).
Here you will find an introduction by the presenter, video-documentation filmed by Baha Görkem Yalım and a written report by Grant Watson.The report includes a summary of the spoken, improvised comments by esteemed guest respondents Barby Asante, Sandi Hilal, and Zairong Xiang.
The Anna Jarvis Project
Alva's question: Can we fake it?
Alva's intro:
The Anna Jarvis Project is a one-man band formed in 2022.
The group took its name from Anna Jarvis, who originally founded Mother's Day to draw attention to women’s unpaid domestic labor but then spent much of her life trying to abolish the holiday after it was distorted into a commercial gimmick
The Anna Jarvis Project is post-Riot Grrrl. It is a frustration that feminism became commercialized and began to focus on strong women instead of redistributing resources. It is a frustration at not daring to ask for help and instead having to do everything yourself.
But it is also an exploration of fear and failure, fake and real. An investigation into the presumed low stakes for those who have nothing to lose, and of how faking cracks open the system—spawning new advantages and absurd prospects.
Grant's report:
There are two figures on the stages wearing identical black costumes. One sits, while the other stands and speaks into a microphone saying: hi this is my band, the Anna Jarvis Project. Then asks the question: how do ideas become mediocre? This is in relation to the tradition of ‘mother’s day’ originally intended to mark the fact of women’s unpaid labour but becoming a day linked to commercial spectacle. The standing figure delivers a series of further questions, then begins to move to the music as it becomes louder and more insistent, while the other sits and watches. The standing figure’s words are not always completely audible, but a repeated phrase becomes clear: how to, how to, how to, how to, how to? There is a play on lip-syncing with the speaker moving away from the mike while the speech continues. The speaker says that avoiding death by faking death is the oldest strategy, a built-in reflex, a last resort. Meanwhile the seated figure puts on a pair of black trainers. The subject shifts to the fact of starvation in Gaza. Another question gets asked: is it possible to digitally print pureed food? Food containing exact amounts of protein, the kind of food used by professional cyclists and astronauts? The seated figure puts on a silver cape then lies on the floor, adds some silver knee protectors, a cycle helmet. We learn that Anna Jarvis ended life in an asylum. There is a guitar riff, the seated figure stands and sings earnestly, mournfully, in the style of a rocker: next time you fake, fake for real, not asking for forgiveness freedom or respect… they take of the helmet and knee protectors, return to a kneeling position, come back to the mic: I will give you a reason to refuse, we are born losers ... the two figures walk briskly together off the stage.
Barby Asante says that it’s interesting as a practice to observe, when at the moment you are speaking, your body also realises it has difficulty speaking. You need good faith. It was interesting for her to think about Anna Jarvis’ political intentions and how causes get co-opted. How you notice with age that the things that you did have become mediocre, and what that means in terms of bringing change in the world.
Zairong Xiang congratulates this collaboration, that he has been impressed by the collective work and hopes the artist will take this forward. He appreciates the historical background of mother’s- day and how it has been co-opted but says that it is the oldest story of capitalism, it coopts everything. Failure was the limit of co-option, but now we know even failure can be coopted. We are in a moment when nothing can be taken for granted. He thinks that the detail of moving away from the mic, while the mic continues to speak, that glitch, could developed further.
Sandi Hilal says that she enjoyed the work. That it shows how the best practice is to never stop questioning what you are doing, who you are, if you are being true to yourself? That we live in a world where everyone is shouting. Speaking about herself as a Palestinian, when you are the victims of the victims, you don't even know what is yours. For example, if Palestinians don’t ask for the right of return it will always be an impossibility. So she appreciates this act of putting doubt on everything that we do, which is one of the ways forward.
