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My work, which is a performance piece, does have
historical references from painting. I started off in my first and
second years in painting and my work developed looking at identity
and then trying to paint my experiences of a woman in the 21st century.
I just became very frustrated trying to paint an
experience, which as you can understand, is an abstract concept.
During my summer holidays as I was studying for
my dissertation it suddenly became clear to me that one of my experiences
is the cultural part of the identity that is handed to us from the
moment we are born. Gender if you like and
how were pushed towards a certain state of being and behaving and
how these images are given to us through magazine and film.
So is your performance rebelling at the stereotypical
image of a 21st century woman?
No, it shows my ambivalence towards it as I don't
know what the alternative will be. We don't live in a vacuum, we
live in a culture, you can't say if you stepped outside that culture
what the alternative would be.
It's an examination of why and how I socialise
my body to be accepted in society I guess. We all want to be accepted
and that's why we do it.
The work starts off with me grooming myself and
that's where it relates to paintings like Venus at her toilette
where I'm observed in a mirror.
I then notice that I'm being observed and I then
start reacting with the audience and realise that I'm almost a cloned
being from this given facet of the identity.
Performance by Annie Hall |
A big part of this work is using visual technology
and devices like cameras and mirrors.
Well a great part of our cultural identity is brought
to us through television, film and magazines and this is a very
direct way of bringing that identity to people.
At the beginning of this academic year I started
with photography and video and then it occurred to me that when
I put an exhibition up in January I became interested in watching
people looking at me.
We judge people every time we see somebody, they're
looking at you and making an assessment and that became very interesting
to me.
So I thought it's the bits that are missing out
of the photograph that I wanted to show. The preparation to be observed,
it's the reason we have mirrors in our house - it's a surrogate
public eye if you like.
Performance by Annie Hall can be seen
in Room 59 on 2nd floor of NSAD at:
Thursday 19 June, 1pm
Friday 20 June, 1pm
Saturday 21 June, 2.30pm
Tuesday 24 June, 1pm
Sitting is limited and there will be no admittance after the
performance begins.
It may not be suitable for children. |
With my work, unlike a woman in a painting who's
just there and being looked at... although I've given permission
to my voyeurs, I can actually direct that back at them and make
the people looking at me feel quite uncomfortable about it.
You're naked in front of an invited audience,
what has been the reaction from those who have seen the work to
date?
I think the poster advertising the performance
might have given them some idea. It's not
an erotic performance or of a sexual nature, it is as though I'm
just born.
It's as though I'm getting rid of the things that
make us erotic like lipstick and high-heels - I'm getting rid of
those fetishistic elements that we do to ourselves and questioning
why we do it. But as I say, what's the alternative?
See
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