29.12.20 Two kinds of performance
I'm conscious that there are 2 kinds of performance in my practice. Both, so far, have been oddly private because of the pandemic, usually with no audience, or if I'm being videoed, my partner is both videographer and audience. Interestingly, aspects of both have become part of my metal body sculptures.
Firstly, I have made a series of performances with me wearing my sculptures. Initially I wore my Body cocoons, which are hand knitted, shroud-like pieces, and more recently, I've worn my metal sculptures. There are a few videos of me, moving inside one of these Body cocoons:
Firstly, I have made a series of performances with me wearing my sculptures. Initially I wore my Body cocoons, which are hand knitted, shroud-like pieces, and more recently, I've worn my metal sculptures. There are a few videos of me, moving inside one of these Body cocoons:
Body cocoon 2, 2020
Body cocoon 1 (if you go down to the woods today), July 2020
I decided to make some metal sculptures, based on the poses I make inside the Body cocoons, so I lay on the floor on a large piece of paper and asked my long suffering partner to draw round me as I copied several positions from the performances.
I then used the life-sized drawing as a pattern to make the steel outlines of my body.
I then used the life-sized drawing as a pattern to make the steel outlines of my body.
Making these sculptures is what I would suggest is the second kind of performance in my practice- performative making. Working with metal involves the whole of my body - it's very physical and involves lifting, measuring, cutting, checking the pattern, bending, pulling, checking, clamping, welding. I feel as if my body leaves its marks in the bends of the metal. I got bruises from the way I worked. I feel as if traces of that physical making, of the form and force of my body, are present in those sculptures, even when I am no longer present.
So, using poses from me wearing the Body cocoons plus the marks of performative making, I have synthesised these two different kinds of performance into my metal bodies.
I actually see a lot of my making as performative. When I cast my feet, it involved my whole body and significant physical and emotional labour. Although I have had much less opportunity to knit in public because of the pandemic, I consider my series I knit therefore I am as performance as well.
I have discussed presence and absence in my practice here.
So, using poses from me wearing the Body cocoons plus the marks of performative making, I have synthesised these two different kinds of performance into my metal bodies.
I actually see a lot of my making as performative. When I cast my feet, it involved my whole body and significant physical and emotional labour. Although I have had much less opportunity to knit in public because of the pandemic, I consider my series I knit therefore I am as performance as well.
I have discussed presence and absence in my practice here.