9.1.21, Body cocoon 5 (the line where shore and water meet)
Two performances with the completed Body cocoon 5
9.1.21 I've finally finished Body cocoon 5! For more details of the design and process please see Body cocoon 5. We are stuck in a 3rd lockdown in England at the moment, so we've very limited in where we can go and how far we can travel. I wanted to wear the newly finished piece to see what it looks like and to discover how it moves etc. Dave took 2 fairly impromptu videos and a number of photos. We wanted to emulate the feeling of the performance we did in November, on the shore in Clevedon, so we headed to Severn Beach, just outside Bristol, for our daily walk, dragging the knitting with us. Severn Beach is estuarine; incredibly muddy, but appealing to us city dwellers for its open skies, the light on the water and a horizon. It's an urban walkway beside the River Severn, in that it spans the space between the two Severn Bridges and industrial Avonmouth is in clear view. However, it gives the impression of water, shore and sky and it's our only option at the moment.
Until now, all the videos we have made have been on my phone and consequently, portrait. Fran, another student on the MA, who works with film, had advised me, when she saw the video of my Body cage performance, that I should make videos landscape, so we tried that for this one. I can't decide which I prefer. I can see that when the videos are uploaded to YouTube they look much better when they're landscape, but I do think the portrait videos are better framed. My partner Dave has very kindly been videoing me since the first lockdown and they are impromptu, videoed maybe after a quick discussion. I am reluctant to make the process long or difficult, so we normally do just one take. Until now, they have been like sketches, capturing the look, feel, movement and situation. I realise that if I'm going to develop these videos as art works in their own right, I will need to give more attention to the actual recording, and learn to edit them. Part of me is reluctant to do this, as, for me, there's something delightful about the spontaneity of this growing series. Thinking of Bruce Nauman's early films, many of them were seemingly spontaneous, one take, very simple and on a continuous loop.
I think my videos are about my body being in that particular place. The places have been associated with the very limited holidays we've been able to have this last year (Pembrokeshire, Cornwall) or in domestic spaces, our house and garden. I have wondered, given the circumstances whether I could use a green screen in order to have a wider choice of situations, and also so that I can be more autonomous. I will need to find out more about this. Otherwise, as I've said before I need funding - to pay for filmmakers/lights etc.
So, what do I think of this first video? It definitely captures the place and the moment, the sounds of the mud, the traffic in the background. It also captures, for me, the moments beforehand when I had to walk out in the unpredictable mud. It still seems very wrong to subject knitting to some of these environments; there is a very strong instinct to keep knitting clean. Here, I knew it was inevitable that some of the ends of the strands would get very muddy, and that possibly I would get very muddy too, especially if I fell over! I'm generally quite stoical about the traces that my knitting picks up as I knit it wherever I am, but I haven't ever taken my knitting to such an extremely muddy place. Some of the ends did get quite muddy, but the mud has dried now, and I could probably rub it off, or wash it off, but I won't. It does make me think of Mary Douglas' statement that 'dirt is matter out of place' and what she says about contamination anxiety, order and disorder, boundaries, ambiguity and disquiet. So much of this seems relevant during a pandemic! In a way, as I've discussed elsewhere, I think the knitting is 'matter out of place' and so its presence in any unexpected setting, especially a dirty one, creates a sense of discomfort (or hilarity!)
In terms of the actual video, I think that the landscape format made it harder for Dave to know how and when to zoom in on me. That's ok. It's definitely an idea, a sketch, the beginnings of something, maybe? I'm very glad we did it as it really helps me to see the work. It comes alive when it's worn, to join my ever growing series of Living sculptures. I think, as a stand alone piece, it's less effective than the performance I did with this same sculpture in November. It might be that it's because it's too similar, or the landscape/zooming issues, or the setting, or the wellies? I'm not sure. But I do think there's something more focussed and interesting about the other video.
I do think they're funny as well. A group of people walked past as we were doing it and they were laughing....
And itreally was quite tricky walking in the mud, unable to see, tripping up on the knitting, nearly losing a wellie.... but it was fun too!
I think my videos are about my body being in that particular place. The places have been associated with the very limited holidays we've been able to have this last year (Pembrokeshire, Cornwall) or in domestic spaces, our house and garden. I have wondered, given the circumstances whether I could use a green screen in order to have a wider choice of situations, and also so that I can be more autonomous. I will need to find out more about this. Otherwise, as I've said before I need funding - to pay for filmmakers/lights etc.
So, what do I think of this first video? It definitely captures the place and the moment, the sounds of the mud, the traffic in the background. It also captures, for me, the moments beforehand when I had to walk out in the unpredictable mud. It still seems very wrong to subject knitting to some of these environments; there is a very strong instinct to keep knitting clean. Here, I knew it was inevitable that some of the ends of the strands would get very muddy, and that possibly I would get very muddy too, especially if I fell over! I'm generally quite stoical about the traces that my knitting picks up as I knit it wherever I am, but I haven't ever taken my knitting to such an extremely muddy place. Some of the ends did get quite muddy, but the mud has dried now, and I could probably rub it off, or wash it off, but I won't. It does make me think of Mary Douglas' statement that 'dirt is matter out of place' and what she says about contamination anxiety, order and disorder, boundaries, ambiguity and disquiet. So much of this seems relevant during a pandemic! In a way, as I've discussed elsewhere, I think the knitting is 'matter out of place' and so its presence in any unexpected setting, especially a dirty one, creates a sense of discomfort (or hilarity!)
In terms of the actual video, I think that the landscape format made it harder for Dave to know how and when to zoom in on me. That's ok. It's definitely an idea, a sketch, the beginnings of something, maybe? I'm very glad we did it as it really helps me to see the work. It comes alive when it's worn, to join my ever growing series of Living sculptures. I think, as a stand alone piece, it's less effective than the performance I did with this same sculpture in November. It might be that it's because it's too similar, or the landscape/zooming issues, or the setting, or the wellies? I'm not sure. But I do think there's something more focussed and interesting about the other video.
I do think they're funny as well. A group of people walked past as we were doing it and they were laughing....
And itreally was quite tricky walking in the mud, unable to see, tripping up on the knitting, nearly losing a wellie.... but it was fun too!
9.1.21, Body cocoon 5, twirling
I think this video is actually the most interesting of the three. There's something about the freedom of twirling that always thrills me; the movement of the knitting, the blues against the background, the rhythmic crunching sound, the wellies, the stumbling....I wonder whether I could get it to loop so that it plays continuously, maybe editing out the stumble? I think it makes the knitting look much more alive and it's possible to see the individual pieces of knitting. Wonderful! Definitely something to play with. I think I want to also do a photoshoot of me twirling, like with Body cocoon 3.
