My work weaves together audio, texts, archival and found materials with photographs and performances to interrogate the slippery multi-faceted performance of femininity. Through revealing the hidden mechanisms and staged moments, I want to bring to light the layers of identity informed by social interaction and contexts, the contradictions in physical bodily display and the divergent techniques of hiding in plain sight—being the dazzling spectacle in the spotlight.
My work weaves together audio, texts, archival and found materials with photographs and performances to interrogate the slippery multi-faceted performance of femininity. Through revealing the hidden mechanisms and staged moments, I want to bring to light the layers of identity informed by social interaction and contexts, the contradictions in physical bodily display and the divergent techniques of hiding in plain sight—being the dazzling spectacle in the spotlight.
I prise open these spotlight moments in my work by drawing attention to the crafting of identity through entertainment. I do this through a process of bringing in expert voices, building unlikely relationships with retired chorus girls, current showgirls and contrary performers, who play along with me, committing to a period of embarrassed rehearsals and ritual humiliation through public performance.
I am interested in the labour of the performance, the vulnerability of the body, loneliness and lack of talent. I often step into these awkward moments, implicating myself and the viewer; dancing non-stop to the threshold of painful exhaustion; singing sincerely but imperfectly in a crowded room. I aim to capture a certain irreverence, absurdity tinged with melancholy, foolishness, pleasure—all these layers of live performance, all at the same time.
The long exposures of my photographs of theatre interiors reflect aspiration, opulence and dust. The façade and the real. The reality of construction. These resonant and atmospheric spaces are haunted with the trials of optimism and human endeavour, of putting on a show.
