Photography ny Evin McCarthy
This submission, entitled ‘Tin Girl’ is a durational performance involving the body using props such as large metal box with door, stones, fabric, leather twine all of which are used alongside the body to tell a story of loss and acceptance of emigration of loved ones. A metal box with lid is strapped to the front of my body (this representing the heart cavity). Encircled by stones/shells representing earth, lying on my back, I load the box with stones pinning down’ my body . Society being the space and the body negotiating this space in a bid to understand its place, in accepting the reality of today including hardships such as mass emigration etc.. After an allocated time of loading the stones individually into the metal box, words are called, a paragraph, then uncomfortably and unsteadily climb to my feet, the door of the box opens, the stones falling out into a heap on the ground, to be positioned yet again in a ceremonial circle around me, each marking time passed or time to pass. I will wear a specially made silver costume with props attached.
In the proposed durational performance questions are asked in relation to what we place value upon in society and how these effect us aswell as asking questions about our individual desires and burdens…… and how as an artist, the body can be used as a prop in itself to give a language to these questions.
Having been trained in fabric, fibre and dress design use costumes as functioning aparatus’ which collaborated with the body in the space. I use a language of images, gestures, spaces and more recently accompanied instrumental sounds; a language that invites the audience into a gentle dialogue. The audience is invited to experience the work without too many preconditions and is encouraged to explore the whole space and be present in the moment. Performance is about the experience, it is unbound by a beginning or an end. It happens. Presently my work deals with the public/private sphere and explorations of sensorial experiences within social, cultural, architectural and environmental spaces. In my new work I use the deconstructed body within a space to raise questions in relation the body politic and the body in relation to culture and society.
