In dialogue with the exhibition Gestures of Defiance opening at the Vita Kuben  in Umeå, Sweden (May 2015) Mary Coble debuted, Performing Defiance as a live work created for the MADE FESTIVAL 2015, also in Umeå.

The piece was then modified and traveled to Chicago, Illinois for the Rapid Pulse Performance Festival.
 
On these occasions Coble focuses on the raised fist as a repeated symbol of protest. The artist questions contemporary discourses of progress and success, for instance in regards to homonationalist takes on gay rights and the mainstreaming and commercialization of LGBTQ Pride marches which initially were part of social activist movements with the goal to claim space and create visibility. Coble uses the raised fist as an act of opposition to structures of exclusion and as a reminder to protest the discrimination of society’s marginalised groups. The performance includes a pink triangle, the iconic and reclaimed symbol for homosexuality, which Coble activates with the tactical frivolity of glitter bombing. 
 
In the performance piece Coble will embody a protesting figure jumping with their fist raised over an exaggerated period of time, stretching this expression of dissatisfaction to it’s potential in a durational act of resistance. The repeated gestures of protest will be vacillating between excitement and failure. Adding a pink latex triangle and an abundance of glitter to the act of raising a clenched fist, the artist activates a number of codes, traditions and tactics from queer history and counter-culture. Coble thus combines both the exhilaration and exhaustion of an extended protest that allows for unpredictability, messiness and failure as strategies in the fight for non-conformative values.