Reflections of Performance 3

*Video Coming Soon*

Distortion Through Plastic

Performance 3 was a very new experience for me. I felt like I was definitely putting myself on the line. I was inspired by the idea of breaking out of the frame, as well as distortion of the image of the body. I started out covering my old mirror frame in tin foil, so that I could leave impressions of myself in the frame before I scratched it open to emerge from the frame. The morning of the performance though, I looked at it, and realized that it was too easy. All I would have to do is simply run my nail down the foil, and breaking through would be a simple task. However, historically, women breaking out of the frame has clearly been much more of a challenge- we are still talking about it today! Knowing that, I wanted to do something more endurance based. I ripped off all the foil on my frame, and replaced it with a cut up plastic garbage bag. This would allow me to really distort my image to the audience, as well as create a much bigger struggle when trying to break through.

I had a couple difficulties when performing this piece. First off, my frame was definitely too small. I knew that going into this project, but I used the materials I had. The frame was not big enough vertically or horizontally. My frame was also slightly broken I started this piece. I thought that by taping it together, it would hold for the performance. Unfortunately, the plastic bag did such a good job or restraining me, that instead of the bag ripping, the frame broke. I felt like I could have gone for longer if my frame did not break, which would have emphasized the endurance aspect of my piece even more. Finally, I was unsure of what to wear for this performance. I went simple, and chose a nude color top with black pants, but I'm not sure if that was the best choice. Should I have dressed up more to fully embrace the idea of femininity and women breaking out of the frame? Should I gone even more basic? These are questions I have to figure out for Live Art Night.

I was very nervous about this piece. I tried talking about it to my friends who aren't in this class . They all thought it sounded weird (some said artistically weird though, which gave me some hope). I knew that squishing my face against a plastic bag would look strange, maybe even be uncomfortable to watch. I don't usually put myself out there like this, it's a very new experience for me. This class is helping me feel more comfortable about my ideas and doing the weird things. Its new, and I like it.