1985, performed at Wilshire United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, California. Part of “Explorations II,” sponsored by Museum of Contemporary Art, California Institute of the Arts and Japanese American Cultural and Community Center

Revelations of the Flesh is a complex performance exploring themes of female identity, Christianity’s denouncement of the flesh, and the destructive consequences of these beliefs, particularly in relation to nuclear annihilation. Performed at Wilshire United Methodist Church, the piece uses the church setting to intensify its critique, drawing on the audience’s emotional connection to religious ritual.

The performance weaves together sermons, visual tableaux, and film projections. Gaulke and her collaborators present opposing views on Christianity’s condemnation of the body and women, with actor Colin Gorman delivering a fire-and-brimstone sermon equating flesh and womanhood with sin, while Susan Gitlin-Emmer offers a counterpoint, suggesting an alternative, Goddess-centered spirituality that honors the body and earth. Interspersed between the sermons are filmic sections presenting a “live” Venus of Willendorf, accompanied by Anna Homler’s haunting, neo-primitive chanting in an invented language.

Throughout the piece, Gaulke embodies various archetypal figures: the fallen Angel Lucifer, the Snake, a child, and the Whore of Babylon, each representing aspects of the flesh reviled by Christian doctrine. Her journey culminates in a symbolic crucifixion, where she is “crucified” on an altar under a neon atomic symbol, surrounded by representations of her past selves. In a “Postnuclear Postscript,” the filmic goddess figure reappears, nurturing a skeleton, symbolizing renewal in the face of destruction.

By staging the performance within a church, Gaulke evokes the power of ritual, challenging traditional Christian dogma and questioning the link between spiritual condemnation of the flesh and the justification of nuclear destruction. Intended as an exorcism of her own religious upbringing, Revelations of the Flesh prompts the audience to reflect on deep-seated beliefs about the body, spirituality, and the potential consequences of those beliefs on humanity and the earth.

An excerpt was also performed at UCLA, Los Angeles, California