The Theatricality of the Protagonist

Performance/installation

Place: The Vallum Gallery, Institute of the Arts, Brampton Road, Carlisle, England (Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year Exhibition)

Duration: 3 hours continuous

Material: Human form, A3 paper w/ description of original performance, grayscale photograph, blue tarpaulin, steel toe capped boots, latex gloves, shovel, hazard tape, heavy duty trousers, jumper, wool hat, wrench

21st March 2019

Presenting my physical form amongst the symbolic assemblage of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgia, my return as the works protagonist flirted with a semblance of aesthetic authenticity. However, I could be seen playing up my trauma, embodying a picturesque image of physical distress – a state merely implied by the description of the nostalgia performance. Loaning this suggestive physicality, I presented my staged production of emotional turmoil, becoming a poseur.

Something Blocks the Doorway

Performance

Place: The Pharmacy, Scotland Road, Carlisle, England (SOMETHING Exhibition)

Duration: 3 hours continuous

Material: Human form dressed in blue shirt and black trousers, noise cancelling headphones, blindfold, white gallery wall, spotlight

8th November 2018

Fuelled by a motivation to highlight the problematic notion of inaccessibility, this performance operated through a simplistic economy of gesture and material. The venue, an exhibition space which previously functioned as a pharmacy, enabled me to become an allusive component within the space. I developed an antagonistic, physical altercation with a white exhibition wall. This would deny access to what used to be a doorway and would involve me repeatedly colliding with said wall as if said doorway was still operational. A once achievable gesture became entirely fruitless. Such would call attention to the historic function of the space and the inconsistencies presented by its current state.

Allow me to Explain

Performance/installation

Place: The Market Hall, Scotch Street, Carlisle, England (Anywhere & Here Exhibition)

Duration: 4 hours continuous

Material: Human form dressed in black, steel toe capped boot, rubber gloves, wooden board, soil, paper, chair, television on white plinth

31st August 2018

This performance referenced unseen labour through a physical restructuring of its key, fundamental components. In an effort to maintain an element of futility within my practice, the activity was designed to present, but never directly inform one of an occurrence. The space was segmented into three distinct parts, playing host to a mechanism, one intent on delivering suggestive information. To do this, I would physically engage with artefacts from said labour, sabotaging my own attempt at dispensing a vocal account of events and produce hand-drawn representational documents.