This series of paintings is the beginning of a large-scale, multi-phased, multi-media project directly combining the artist's love of Butoh dance and painting. Each India Ink on canvas panel is 36” x 108”.

Drawing inspiration from the last paintings of Francisco Goya, now called the “Fourteen Black Paintings," and from the Peter Gabriel song of the same name, Laborde’s “Fourteen Black Paintings” are a prayer to humanity struggling to pull themselves from darkness.

“From the pain come the dream

From the dream come the vision

From the vision come the people

From the people come the power

From this power come the change ....” 

Peter Gabriel, “The Fourteen Black Paintings”

These dancers are performing a ritual of resilience. It is an anthem of the human spirit. It is an unapologetic battle cry for all members of society to lift one another up and to push back against oppression. 

In this phase of the project, the dancers surround the viewer, and the viewer therefore has also been thrust onto this stage. The viewer is a part of this dance - we are all center stage in this experiment. 

The figurative poses of the fourteen paintings also create the choreography of a real dance, that can be performed by anyone by transitioning from one pose to the next, moving from left to right. This dance was composed collaboratively - each of the models improvising for the camera, and the artist selecting key images to piece together the resulting choreography. The dance can change based on the order the paintings are hung in, but the meaning remains the same. 

As this project progresses over the coming years, video will be utilized as well as live performance. Phase two of this project will include a stage performance of this dance, with fourteen dancers in the ensemble. It will debut in New York City in 2026/7

Special thanks to dancers Scoop, Robyn, Yasmine, Matt, Eric, Eilish, Oscar, Alison, River, and Tara for their collaboration in this project.