Material can seem disconnected to the human, it has a way of disassociating itself, we give it life only to then shut it down, we divorce it because it never truly belongs to us, it becomes possession, because it’s outside. Yet it speaks just like us…
Through picking up the material it becomes part of the body and the body forms a new body part, its agency also runs through the body. Part of its circulatory system, its respiratory system…it breathes -new life. What draws me in is the new discovery. With performance art it can not be apprehended, and cannot be ‘corrected.’
The paint is not only a signifier, for an outward/visual representation but it also speaks of an internal language. I apply the paint directly using my hands the paint asks for a one to one bond. The figure appears less human, the skin is being displaced, objectified (?) By doing this it blurs the idea of a singular definition object and human, or material and human. I started to realise that I can imply object but the act of objectification relies on others… Objects are often humanised, humans are often objectified. What if we’re all interlinked like the transporting systems we have in place to buy these materials, this spirit could be embedded in the material. By selecting products/ material we are able to gain these complex relationships with others and create new connections.
In Maori culture, the clan celebrate potlatch and often apply white clay to indicate status/age within the tribe but also to be physically and spiritually bonded to the land . Maybe the clown paint is a reference to my white working class background. I am often ousted for my Birmingham accent , only really by white middle class people. In the macroscope of it all maybe it relates to the England – American shared idiocy and contradiction. It is no coincidence that after brexit and just before Trump, the clown craze broke out like a premonition or was it a distraction before the event. It was as though we already new what absurdity faced us. My performances were just days before the craze, coincidence?
