Salomania

Salome, no longer a girl but a middle-aged woman, is trapped in a relentless loop of her own story. She journeys through the cycles as part of a volatile, combustible quartet that includes Herod, John the Baptist, and the Jester—a sinister, clownish disruptor drawn from fin de siècle decadence. She alone can end the cycle, moving through a world that watches, measures, and judges every gesture, every desire, contending with a relentless gaze that seeks to categorize, contain, and pathologize bodies that refuse to conform. Blending shadowed theatricality, visceral movement, and imagery drawn from Salome’s turn-of-the-century cultural fever, Salomania transforms these neurological and surveillance obsessions into a haunting, almost tangible force, fracturing time, authority, and expectation. It is not a biblical retelling but a dark meditation on spectacle, power, and a body that will not remain still 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.