Documentary Screening

Iris Rose was a familiar figure of the East Village performance scene in the 80s and early 90s, primarily as a member of the group Watchface. She performed frequently at La MaMa, PS122, Darinka, and the Pyramid Club, among many other venues. By the middle of the decade, however, she had virtually disappeared as a presence within that community. Where had she gone?

The Joe Project tells the story of Iris’ trip “down the mommy hole.” After her son Joe was born in 1988, she struggled—as many parents have before and since—to find the perfect balance between her work as an artist and devotion to her child.

When Joe graduated from high school in 2006, Iris began work on The Joe Project to mark that milestone, and the transition to a new phase it represented for both of them. Together, mother and son collected a profusion of media artifacts, representing specific years of his childhood as she set to work, examining their evolving relationship and her accommodations to motherhood. Written by Iris and edited by Joe, The Joe Project documents changes in their lives, but also in the East Village, around the turn of the millennium—the very specific place and time where their story occurred.