Two "Body Studies"

"Body Study #1" & "Body Study #2" will be included in the RAW - (Material) series.

These video-sketch journal entries return to where I left off after "#0: Ground Zero" - my performance at Somos Gallery, Berlin where I literally stripped everything down to the raw material of the Self - Body & Psyche.

These Body Studies are an interrogation.

Continuing with the flash light beam theme (from the performance) - I am interrogating myself to ask
"so now that you have stripped down - what are you?" 

In "Body Study #1 - Body Parts" - I am answering that question on the most basic physical level.
"I am my hands, I am my arms, I am my feet, I am my legs, I am my head, I am my back, I am my breasts ...." etc etc

In "Body Study #2 - Body Folding" - I feel like I want to fold in on myself under the scrutiny of this interrogation. I am aware that, in folding up one area of the body, I am exposing another. I keep folding over & over, again & again, one body part folding over another.

Please click on the TWO video links below ....
Both of the videos are totally raw, unedited footage - there is a lot of blank space & much material that will be cut altogether. Please feel free to fast forward through sections of them.

Body Study #1 – Body Parts

date – September 30 2015

location – Tozer Dance Studios, Hockerwood Farm, Nottinghamshire

camera – tripod set-up

https://youtu.be/1bNjFGMx5Yo

Body Study #2 – Body Folding

date – September 30 2015

location – Tozer Dance Studios, Hockerwood Farm, Nottinghamshire

camera – tripod set-up

https://youtu.be/-x91jHkZLIo

.................

Recent Images - October 3rd 2015

Below are five links to recent sets of images.

"Haybale" & "Elderberries" belong to the RAW - (Material) series as numbers 4 & 5 ... there are also video pieces of myself in interaction with these materials - the videos are, as yet, unedited & I do not want to present them in their unedited state.

The "Sherwood Oaks", "Nature Walk" & "Southwell Trail" sets are part of a collection of Nature Specimens that I am yet to interact with in order to include them as part of the RAW - (Material) series.

#4 - Haybale

date – September 11 2015

location – Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157659355066042

#5 - Elderberries

date – September 6 to September 30 2015 (picking fruit to bottling wine)

location – Southwell Trail, Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157657005956614

Sherwood Oaks

date – September 12 2015

location – Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157657083441993

Nature Walk – Farnsfield

date – September 2 2015

location – Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157658996534360

Southwell Trail – Bilsthorpe

date – September 6 2015

location – Southwell Trail (Farnsfield to Bilsthorpe) Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157659415007411

 

RAW - (Material) #3: Apples

IMAGES 

#3 – Apples

date – September 3 2015

location – Osmanthorpe Orchard Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157658572444635

VIDEO

#3: Apples

date shot – September 3 2015

location – Osmanthorpe Orchard Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire

camera – tied to tree branches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFMi0AR1CsA

TEXT

RAW – (Material) #3: Apples

Osmanthorpe Orchard Nature Reserve – Nottinghamshire

pick pick pick pick

the verb is the same as the sound

pick

So many

bountiful

little tiny apples from ancient

un-tended trees

orchard yielding

hanging fruit

hanging heavy – loaded

weighting waiting for

“pick” “pick”

reaching & pulling – grabbing

dropping

basket waiting to catch the fall

Softly violent action to pick

- tug the fruit away from its

attachment (to life)

Satisfying to the hand

Roundness, smoothness, firmness

in the hand

- fits there, just right

like it was made to be

held in a hand

twist & pull, tug & “pick” “drop”

rosy blush on green

RAW - (Material) #2: Wheat

IMAGES

#2 – Wheat

date – August 27 2015

location – Wheatfield, Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157658155037448

VIDEO

#2: Wheat

date shot – August 27 2015

location – wheat field, Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire

camera – Ana MacArthur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH9YXWn-vww

TEXT

RAW – (Material) #2: Wheat

Wheat field – Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire

Sea of wheat

Sound – whispering

… whispering wheat

inviting

inviting me to fall

to give into its bed – golden

waving

fall repeatedly

over & over

arms open 

golden dry crunchy stalks

with heads of grain

scratchy

I drop   I drop   I drop

down    weight   drops

               body       drops

gentle breeze causes waves

sea of wheat

bed of wheat

throw yourself down

into the resting place

the rest-ful place

held in golden arms

               golden stalks

receives me

pads my fall

welcomes me

uh-oh … rain drops

uh-oh … farmer’s coming

Sky Opens

Rain pours

We run!

RAW - (Material) #1: Sand

IMAGES

#1 – Sand

date – August 15 2015

location – Muggelsee, Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114531261@N02/albums/72157658483482571


VIDEO

#1: Sand

date shot -  August  9 2015

location - Freibad Plotzensee, Berlin

camera – Stephanie Reid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yySOZ_V67Y

TEXT

RAW – (Material) #1: Sand

Freibad Plotzensee – Berlin

All the clichés about warm sand, basically!

Sun drenched, radiant warmth, radiation – warmth absorbed into the very atoms of the material

Sand grains – tiny smooth little grains of glass – soft texture – soft & grainy at the same time – gets into everything – coarse & smooth

Skin in response to soft grainy warmth & sunshine

Luxurious – luxuriate

feels like therapy

like a spa treatment

… imprints from body into sand - swirls, flattening, smoothing, rivets, grooves, circular gestures “sand angels” spirals, surrounding rounding

Sand sticking to sweat – providing extra layer of skin “sand paper skin”

Maintaining constant contact with sand – body flat against surface – shifting rolling pouring the body

body pouring like liquid

sand pouring like liquid

(floor massage / cat stretch exercise)

RAW - (Material) #0: Ground Zero

VIDEO

#0: Ground Zero

date shot – July 26 2015

location – Somos Gallery, Berlin

camera – Margaret Hart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYbiZNmIROE

TEXT

RAW – (Material) #0: Ground Zero

Somos Gallery - Berlin

Small room – like living room or bedroom, even had furniture

People crowded in – sitting on couch, mostly on the floor, some standing – leaning against the wall

Quiet, attentive, supportive, helpful, respectful, obedient (to instructions)

warm, dark

Soft voices “strip” – whispers & occasionally voiced

… Once buzz of clippers begins – provides tone – voices begin to join it in a chant – volume increases.

Repetitive Motion – combing through hair with clipper attachment … hair gradually begins to drop into the floor – gentle, delicate hand action – repeating the motion over & over again.

I feel everyone is with me.

I realize it is going to take a long long long time if I don’t recruit my “assistants”

- hand clippers to Robyn

- scissors to Andrea

Voices pick up – adding harmonies

My face is peaceful … they are doing it for me, taking care of me

I love to be taken care of

They are so kind & attentive – gentle but persistent

- a gentle intensity – a goal must be met

Skin soft in the light

Their lights – some bright & harsh, others warm – some click on & off like strobes

Gets into a groove & continues – trancedance, chant … hair piling on floor, skin like porcelain, hair dropping dropping dropping, clippers buzzing buzz buzz, chanting “strip” “strip” “strip” continues continues continues, lights on & off, on & off

Robyn & Andrea know to switch places

- when they do … sound becomes more insistent

I smile a soft smile …

Amused by how long it is taking & also that this action will just take as long as it takes until it’s done … they will stick with me!

Sound softens & slows again.

My eyes are closed most of the time – it is a touch & sound experience – I see the lights behind my eyelids

Finally all my hair is short & I take back the clippers to finish by myself … to end what I started …

… action is the same again – repeating same motion – but now different – hair is gone

Bright, overblown, intensely focused light – this time held by me to shine on face –

features blown out – ghost – light mask

“Strip everything down to Raw”

Applause 

Post-Summer / Pre-Autumn 2015

Just had my Guidance Committee meeting with Linda Montano - Studio Advisor & Laura Gonzales - Research Advisor. I am so grateful to have these two amazing women supporting my process this year. I feel that they are both totally invested in the project I'm embarking on. They are both incredible artists with such a wealth of experience & accomplishments & I am honored that they take such a sincere interest in my work.
Our meeting lasted about 40 minutes & they had many extremely relevant suggestions for me as I start out into the coming semester.
The studio work will take the form of a journal - with entries made in writing, video studies, photographs, sketches, collected objects, sound recordings.
The subject is the Self-as-medium for art - the raw material being the body & psyche.
I am stripping away everything superfluous in order to begin.
As the physical aspect of the work is so internal, I need a voice with which to express it.
I discussed with Laura & Linda the idea of being able to regard the work through a number of different "lenses" ... this is something Barbara Bolt talked about in her talk in Berlin this Summer - I was quite struck by the idea as a useful tool for my writing this year. To look at my physical process through a variety of philosophical, political, spiritual, cultural lenses ... Laura defined my idea as a "kaleidescope".

The subject matter of the courses I took at the Berlin Summer Residency could not have been more appropriate for my project ... they all dealt with aspects of the self & the body in different ways.
Wolfgang Sueztl's philosophy discussion series on concepts of "Skin", Jean Marie Casbarian's lecture & assignment course on issues of "Invisibility" & Lynn Book's practical, cerebral, physical sweat-bath of body & voice in "Intensities" all opened up avenues for further exploration that are precisely targeted towards my objectives.

However .. I must say - I am quite relieved to be in the peace & quiet of the Nottinghamshire countryside for a while with no demanding schedule.
In Berlin I was totally in exhaustion mode for most of the time!

RAW - (Material) is the title for a series of video & performance vignettes I will create as journal entries.
Two have already been created:
"RAW - (Material) #0: Ground Zero" was my opening performance for the Loose Affairs Transart group show at Somos gallery in Berlin. Here, I asked the audience to assist me in a ritual to strip down everything superfluous - including my clothes & hair.
"RAW - (Material) #1: Sand" is the body in response to warm sand - with videographer Stephanie Reid.

Now it's time to do some reading!