With the help of Mel again, she re-filmed me putting in my contact lenses and then taking them out with a close up frame. It took quite a few takes as, as soon as one lensgot in one eye it wouldn’t go in the other or it would get creased and then just pop out of my eye. I perhaps could have used these failed attempts in the piece to prolong the touching of my eye and hope the viewer find it uncormfortable. However I couldn’t really as every time the lens fell out my eye I kept laughing and you could tell in the video I was laughing, which obviously ruined what I was trying to do with the piece. Not sure why I found it so funny but it amused me.
After several attempts we finally got it filmed. I think it shows what I want it to; this abject feeling through the touching of my eye which is done on a daily basis through the insertion and removal of my lenses. Hopefully it will get the reaction from the viewer which I hope for, with them feeling uncomfortable with watching me ‘play’ with my eyes. Whether or not I will use it in the degree show I am still yet to decide. If I were I would probably re-film it due to the fact of me laughing.
Emma Bowles, ‘Eyeballs’, Performance, Film. May 2013. Filmed by Melissa McGinniss
