Medusa Masks
The Medusa Masks
Masks are made to be worn. In comedy, in tragedy, as disguise and for protection. They are brought alive behind the eyes by the hidden face behind them. They might make up for a loss or disfigurement they might themselves be incomplete - exposing chosen features to heighten desire by showing a lack.
So Masks move, though they are immobile. They tend to dance or enhance the body's storytelling powers. (The eyes just wetness through two holes, the mouth a moistened shadow, til a tongue pokes through)
These Masks were made with snakes in mind. The writhing braids of Medusa. And she in turn was made a mask of stone when confronted by a mirror. It turned her body against her.
One of my Masks has looking glass fragments, another has chandelier teardrops. Another still has a magnifying lens that bulges and focuses on its own innards at will.
I tried to capture these Masks on white backgrounds, from all the top angles (diagrammatic elevations) as a surgeon/autopsy/cartographer/gallery would. The snakes turned to worms. The whole thing was plastic. I felt like I'd taken their soul. So I took them outside. I let the masks play. They lay back in the grass and they wallowed in puddles. They rested their empty heads on pools of mercury, reflecting the sky through the flare of their nostrils. They danced in the flickering light of a lamp that I hovered around them like Perseus's torch.
The pictures I took were not the whole picture. They were moments snatched at the edge of performance.
Yes, I was the maker, I was the director, I was the lighting, the cinematographer, I was the wrangler, the lost choreographer, I am the voice that explains the masks now. But...
.
Masks are made to be worn. In comedy, in tragedy, as disguise and for protection. They are brought alive behind the eyes by the hidden face behind them. They might make up for a loss or disfigurement they might themselves be incomplete - exposing chosen features to heighten desire by showing a lack.
So Masks move, though they are immobile. They tend to dance or enhance the body's storytelling powers. (The eyes just wetness through two holes, the mouth a moistened shadow, til a tongue pokes through)
These Masks were made with snakes in mind. The writhing braids of Medusa. And she in turn was made a mask of stone when confronted by a mirror. It turned her body against her.
One of my Masks has looking glass fragments, another has chandelier teardrops. Another still has a magnifying lens that bulges and focuses on its own innards at will.
I tried to capture these Masks on white backgrounds, from all the top angles (diagrammatic elevations) as a surgeon/autopsy/cartographer/gallery would. The snakes turned to worms. The whole thing was plastic. I felt like I'd taken their soul. So I took them outside. I let the masks play. They lay back in the grass and they wallowed in puddles. They rested their empty heads on pools of mercury, reflecting the sky through the flare of their nostrils. They danced in the flickering light of a lamp that I hovered around them like Perseus's torch.
The pictures I took were not the whole picture. They were moments snatched at the edge of performance.
Yes, I was the maker, I was the director, I was the lighting, the cinematographer, I was the wrangler, the lost choreographer, I am the voice that explains the masks now. But...
.
gLOVE
|
gLOVE is a fake artefact from an imagined dystopian future. A device designed to interrupt and sanitise human contact.
|
|
katebushsongsnotbykatebush
|
katebushsingsnotbykatebush is a collaboration between performers Melissa and Ross Turnbull, musician Ben Baker-Martin and I, reimagining the The 8th Wave suite of songs by Kate Bush. The work comprises a CD sleeve and recorded sound which can be accessed using the button above.
|
ROX
|
ROX is a game to develop and investigate the mystery of femininity in a nonthreatening and fun way.
|
Sweet Mollusc
|
Sweet Mollusc is a scented orange combined with a snail with a metallic inner core. It is wrapped like the citrus fruits of the past, in decorated tissue paper. It is a sculptural response to a sense of fragility, fear and trepidation when faced with the stuff in a drawer that was kept as important but which no longer makes sense.
|
CELL
|
CELL includes some works made for a group project as part of the Anxiety of Interdisciplinary show, exploring the tangents and digressions in conversations between friends discussing the concept of the cell. More can be found at www.iheartart.co.uk
|
