Human Clay Head (2017) Performance. Terracotta Clay.
Human Clay Head (2018) Fridge.
Human Clay Head (2018) Squash and Stretch. Oxford Brooks University.
I place a full block of Terracotta Clay onto my face. I choose to do this. The clay slowly removes the ability to see, hear and breath. In actual fact, this performance is a physical representation of a distinct kind of ‘feedback loop’ one that suggests a curious relationship to Wheatly’s film High Rise. By removing sensory functions, I become other and I no longer have the ability to control what I do and when I want to do it. Peggy Phelan (2005) “Performance occurs over a time which will not be repeated. It can be performed again, but this repetition itself marks it as “different.” All my actions are unscripted and random.
In working with clay, I form faces which may or may not represent an inner self. In my performance I do not die, but much like Laing, I become more animal. I lose the restraints that society holds on me. A more devious, sexual and frightening character takes my place – I become, I transgress into madness. The feedback loop for these examples would be seen as:
A person, a happening (negative), loss of Identity, a becoming.