Holly Bass

Holly Bass (born June 23, 1975) is a Washington DC-based performance artist, poet, dancer, arts educator and cultural activist.

Work

Her movement and spoken-word pieces reveal a fascination with "objectification, observation, and the commodification of art and of the body." Holly has performed across the US and internationally. Her poems, essays and articles have been published in numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Callaloo and Beltway Poetry; and she was the first person to use the term “Hip-Hop Theater” in print.

Her artworks include the installation Black Space at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington DC, which comprises a small house placed on an outline of the city, alluding to the tiny house architectural movement and the housing problems in DC.

She wrote and performed the one-person dance piece Diary of a Baby Diva in Washington DC in 2005, a coming-of-age tale set in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Washington Post noted her "wicked sense of humor" in making use of the more ridiculous cultural products of the age, but also a lyrical quality revealing her as an "eloquent poet".

Bass was voted Washington City Paper’s Best Performance Artist of 2012.