December 8, 2011
Housebound: Redux
This video and performance installation built on the Housebound work my sister and I had presented at the Sydney Fringe earlier this year. Wearing the same veiled costumes, we sat motionless in silence across from each other with close-up footage of our hands knitting played on small television screens. The only sound in the room was the rhythmic click click clack of twin knitting needles. The work explored habitual actions and the notion of tactile knowledge.
Here are some photos taken of the performance.
Fiddle My Fiddle
Ply puppet project for Peats Ridge Festival 2011-2012.
Ply puppet project for Peats Ridge Festival 2011-2012.
Fiddle my Fiddle is an interactive installation exploring the wonderful but oft-overlooked world of hillbilly puppetry. For the project, I am making a life-size three piece hillbilly band out of recycled ply decorated with a whole bunch of pen and paint illustration. When their pulley system is activated, Washboard Abbott, Bow-Leg Bob and Moonshine Mac will perform a special hoe-down for Peats Ridge punters.
Progress shots to come.
Ply puppet project for Peats Ridge Festival 2011-2012.
Fiddle my Fiddle is an interactive installation exploring the wonderful but oft-overlooked world of hillbilly puppetry. For the project, I am making a life-size three piece hillbilly band out of recycled ply decorated with a whole bunch of pen and paint illustration. When their pulley system is activated, Washboard Abbott, Bow-Leg Bob and Moonshine Mac will perform a special hoe-down for Peats Ridge punters.
Progress shots to come.
Interior
More progress shots of the ceiling and general interior of the Port-A-Womb. Materials used include various fabrics from Reverse Garbage and Remnant Warehouse, industrial sized-toilet paper roll cylinders, carpet filler, floristry tape and lots of thread.
Womb Improved
Some photos of the Port-A-Womb interior and exterior. Fairy lights, coloured gels and several lamps were added to the interior to provide ambient lighting. The toilet seat was ripped up and replaced with a faux pearl embroidered pale pink stretch sheath with a red light bulb at the base. Thus, when the womb occupant opened the toilet seat to sit down they would be greeted with the splendid vision of a hidden glowing cavity.
Womb in Progress
More photos of the Port-A-Womb in its gestation period. After scouring the scum off the portaloo shell I spent an age removing battered grills, countless rivets and a very dilapidated front door. To make the loo less disgusting in appearance and association, I painted to outer shell an amicable shade of pink. Then it was time to pad the interior with found lengths of mattress foam.
December 4, 2011
Womb to Move
Been a long while between posts, but, new laptop (with internet!) means I'm rearing and ready to hop back on the bloghorse.
So, here are some progress shots from a project I originally started for the 2011 TINA festival in Newcastle. The festival's funding crisis meant they had to withdraw support for the work but I decided to make it anyway. Womb to Move was made with support from the Arc@Cofa Design Grant.
Womb to Move was inspired by my enduring fascination with public toilets. Plagued by nervousness and claustrophobia in large and noisy crowds at shopping centres, airports and music festivals, I have come to treasure the privacy afforded by the public toilet cubicle. A recent trip to Japan introduced me to the assorted wonders of the modern public toilet; a magic wonderland of floral scents, tinkling music and cleansing water jets catered to the individual's preference for temperature, force and angle.
With these experiences in mind, I began to consider the public toilet's potential to act as a kind of relaxation chamber, a temporary private sanctuary within a bustling public environment. The necessary ritual of a daily bowel movement in such a space could be viewed as a regenerative process in which the toilet occupant privately sheds a part of themselves and then re-enters the public sphere refreshed and emptied of waste. I decided to capture the regenerative power of the public toilet by transforming a Port-A-Loo into a portable womb chamber. I hoped to install this womb chamber in various public places so that passersby suffering from anxiety or feeling run down in body and mind could rejuvenate themselves in a comfortable and private space.
The following photos depict the Port-A-Loo in its original state. It was purchased from a local loo hire company for a steal at $100! Though it arrived in a rather smelly state, a bucket of discount air fresheners solved that problem within a few days.
So, here are some progress shots from a project I originally started for the 2011 TINA festival in Newcastle. The festival's funding crisis meant they had to withdraw support for the work but I decided to make it anyway. Womb to Move was made with support from the Arc@Cofa Design Grant.
Womb to Move was inspired by my enduring fascination with public toilets. Plagued by nervousness and claustrophobia in large and noisy crowds at shopping centres, airports and music festivals, I have come to treasure the privacy afforded by the public toilet cubicle. A recent trip to Japan introduced me to the assorted wonders of the modern public toilet; a magic wonderland of floral scents, tinkling music and cleansing water jets catered to the individual's preference for temperature, force and angle.
With these experiences in mind, I began to consider the public toilet's potential to act as a kind of relaxation chamber, a temporary private sanctuary within a bustling public environment. The necessary ritual of a daily bowel movement in such a space could be viewed as a regenerative process in which the toilet occupant privately sheds a part of themselves and then re-enters the public sphere refreshed and emptied of waste. I decided to capture the regenerative power of the public toilet by transforming a Port-A-Loo into a portable womb chamber. I hoped to install this womb chamber in various public places so that passersby suffering from anxiety or feeling run down in body and mind could rejuvenate themselves in a comfortable and private space.
The following photos depict the Port-A-Loo in its original state. It was purchased from a local loo hire company for a steal at $100! Though it arrived in a rather smelly state, a bucket of discount air fresheners solved that problem within a few days.
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