11.1.21 Why is my work shamanistic?
Also see 20.11.20 Shaman
I think the first time someone saw something shamanistic in my work was in April last year, during the first lockdown when I took a photo or video of the progress of the knitting of Body cocoon 1 as part of my research into process, embodiment and time:
#participationinisolation, Day 14, Documenting the progress of my body cocoon, day 24, 14.4.20
I think it's about the costume , the colour, the movement (of me and the flying strands of yarn as I twirl)and the unusual behaviour that people might associate with being otherworldly. This video is set in my garden, as we weren't allowed to travel far. A couple of months later, when we were allowed to travel again, wearing the completed sculpture, I reenacted a similar war dance performance in a pine forest:
Lou Baker, July 2020, Body cocoon 1 (if you go down to the woods today)
The fabulous setting for this performance amplifies the notions of ritual, symbolism and consequently the idea of the shaman in this piece. The setting itself already has many significations - of myths, fairytales, dreams and nightmares! Situating a performance featuring a shrouded figure in a forest will inevitably be unsettling. That the figure is shrouded in pink knitting makes it hard to read, ambiguous. Pink is a gendered colour, 'girly', benign; knitting is also gendered - expected to be benign, perfect, functional, decorative, clean. Here it's garment-like and yet not; it appears to be unfinished or unravelling and whoever (whatever?) is wearing it appears to be struggling to get out....
Since then I've taken opportunities as they have arisen - largely unplanned and dependent on the restrictions of the pandemic - and 'performed' in various other places on walks and holidays - the beach, several estuarine shorelines, and another very atmospheric mossy wood ... and in the garden, of course! Predictably, the interventions elsewhere are more mysterious and intriguing than those in my garden....
Have a look at Performance: Practice-led research MF7003 and Performance, MF7004. I feel as if these performances have an increasingly curious place in my practice, they're significant but I'm not yet sure precisely how! It especially interests me that I did very little explicit performance until I had to ie until I was forced to wear my sculptures because I couldn't invite other people to wear them because of very real contamination anxiety. I also took part in a month-long, performance-a-day challenge #participationinisolation via Instagram during the first lockdown, in March and April 2020. That was eyeopening as it made me realise how everyday actions are performative and somehow valid as the material for art. I think I should maybe revisit those performances and see how they appear now. I know that they will have informed my Body cocoon and Body cage performances too.
Since then I've taken opportunities as they have arisen - largely unplanned and dependent on the restrictions of the pandemic - and 'performed' in various other places on walks and holidays - the beach, several estuarine shorelines, and another very atmospheric mossy wood ... and in the garden, of course! Predictably, the interventions elsewhere are more mysterious and intriguing than those in my garden....
Have a look at Performance: Practice-led research MF7003 and Performance, MF7004. I feel as if these performances have an increasingly curious place in my practice, they're significant but I'm not yet sure precisely how! It especially interests me that I did very little explicit performance until I had to ie until I was forced to wear my sculptures because I couldn't invite other people to wear them because of very real contamination anxiety. I also took part in a month-long, performance-a-day challenge #participationinisolation via Instagram during the first lockdown, in March and April 2020. That was eyeopening as it made me realise how everyday actions are performative and somehow valid as the material for art. I think I should maybe revisit those performances and see how they appear now. I know that they will have informed my Body cocoon and Body cage performances too.