I held a happening on Monday 27th November at the University's Art Department. I invited people to have tea and a conversation with me whilst we made felt avocados. I did this because I wanted to see where the conversation would go and for people to experience time out amongst the chaos of the gallery around them. I found that most people did not want to actually talk and were quite content with simply sewing. I choose the avocados because they are simple to make and I had already sewn one onto the Grow Up Great Quilt so I wanted to continue with that theme.
I was inspired to do this upon reading about Rirkrit Tiravanija's 'Entitled' (Free), 1992 in which he made Pad Thai for people in the gallery space and they ate it in the gallery. He also provided them with the recipe. His piece is a form of interactive art in a more sociable way. It blurs the distance between the artist and the viewer. I did this to engage with my audience and experiment with what I could do with my movement.
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I have been researching topics which I find upsetting and offensive to make my work more aware and stronger of those who may be against the messages I am conveying, such as 'Gender is a Construct' and 'All Love is Legal'.
Predominantly, I have been looking at people who believe in gay conversion therapy- in particular a man called Joseph Nicolosi. Here are some notes I have taken from his website: 'For many years, Dr. Nicolosi assisted men and women –mostly, persons who are still at a crossroads about their sexual identity– to reduce their same-sex attractions and explore their heterosexual potential' ‘Last week was Prom Night and we were all just dancing in the bus, it was a party bus and it was pretty small and there were a lot of people and it was crowded and we were all just dancing and then that’s when I was dancing with Janet. We were dancing and she was getting really close and so was I, and I just felt myself getting aroused in a real physical way, and it was just like a really good feeling. It was one of those things where you don’t want it to stop. It was really good. I definitely think she noticed but she didn’t say anything. But she smiled’. http://www.josephnicolosi.com Video Interview: Quotes which stood out to me ‘resolve’ homosexuality ‘sweeps up into that identity’ ‘traumatic origins’ ‘families are to blame’ The problem is with society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnBBqYFGKB8 I also found this video very interesting hearing Stephen Fry talk about homosexuality and the Catholic church. He states that talking about it makes him nervous but that is because it matters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwUvRDYubk The Grow Up Great stand was inspired by the stands at the Women of the World Festival that I went to in March 2017.
I was particularly inspired by the Feminist Library stand at the festival which was selling various zines, badges, leaflets on their cause and books. |
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