Exoticisation of the Persona
(Video still from live recording of Strippers in Space by Amy Statik/Instagram @thealienspaceprincess)
Inspiration from watching underground strip shows and drag shows…
Back in October 2016, I was invited to an event by an artist friend who shares my interest in performance. The event was called ‘Deep Trash from Outer Space’ produced by CUNTemporary and was held at the working Men’s club in Bethnal Green. CUNTemporary is a non-profit organisation that works with individuals and groups that explore feminist, queer and decolonial art practices and theories such as perspectives on the body, femininity and objectification. I entered with no expectations and remember feeling inspired and eager to perform on my way out. I look back to one particular performance by Amy Statik called Strippers in Space. The immediate allure of the UV lighting bringing out the flourescent colour in her dress combined with David Bowie’s ethereal voice in Moonage Daydream as a soundtrack was enough to fix anyone’s attention. This immediate colour attraction attached with mysticism created this hunger inside the observer in me to communicate emotions untranslatable through words that I think performance has the power to achieve.
As it was a few years ago since I saw this performance, I wanted to make sure I could credit the performer. Amy Statik was difficult to trace online and during my search I came across an Instagram profile of another stripper named @pennyvalent a.k.a Katie Valent. She titles herself as ‘the anti-showgirl, dancer, fire performer and burlesque baby’. One of her posts that struck me most was her poetry which perfectly described my emotions as I was watching Strippers in Space by Amy Statik.
“It is like all your senses had been muted for so long you forgot you had them and now they are functioning into overdrive. You can hear and feel the entire universe outside vibrating through you; a cacophony of laughter and conversation and rumbling tube trains, the stench of city traffic in summer and all the beautiful colours of the theatre posters you walk by every day. There are dogs playing jubilantly in the sunshine, you see the hazel flecked with gold in the barista’s eyes as she gives you your coffee and your joints seem to have been oiled, moving ever more effortlessly through once awkward mechanical movements. Fluidity, running wild. It is as if you can feel the whole world turning on its axis whilst gravity holds you in place. You are feeling everything, every atom and every particle rushing up through your toes, your fingertips and your spine, like all the circuits inside you came on at once and all these fragile pieces of you, pieces you so delicately glued back together are blistering with electricity and fracturing under this force and you are utterly powerless to prevent it. When nature first forged you the memory of all who once moved and loved imprinted themselves there too within you, in the very make up of who you are. That is why when you dance you do not feel alone. You remember all who once danced and they dance with you. All long lost souls dance with you. And together, you feel... alive.” - L.H.L
(Live recording of Strippers in Space by Amy Statik/Instagram @thealienspaceprincess)
(Photo of live drag performance at Vastavirta club, Pispala, Finland.)
I renewed the liberating feeling I got from watching the Strippers in Space performance a few years ago when I watched an underground drag performance at Vastavirta club in Pispala, Finland this summer. According to Wikipedia, ‘drag queens are performance artists, almost always male, who dress in women's clothing and often act with exaggerated femininity and in feminine gender roles with a primarily entertaining purpose.’ In a broader sense, ‘doing drag’ is an activity which has many motivations, from individual self-expression to mainstream performance. Drag queen activities among stage and street performers may include lip-syncing, live singing, dancing, participating in events such as gay pride parades, drag pageants, or at venues such as cabarets and nightclubs.
With the drag performance I saw, I was impressed by the performer’s ability to appropriate the music she found through her careful choreography which extended to the finer details of her hand and finger movements accentuated by the cat like claws attached to to the silk gloves she was wearing. She created a unique identity through a collage of found materials.
Mr Mango was somewhere in these trees…
As a contrasting story for the topic of exotic personas, I would like to turn to an exotic bird and resident in my home town Croydon. His name is Mr Mango and I encountered him a few years ago when his owner, Becky Page, was going out for a walk with him whilst he was perched on her shoulder. Mr Mango, an animal that the performers I have already mentioned could have been inspired by when designing their performances and acts on stage. Mr Mango is a Macaw parrot born with striking multi-coloured feathers that nature equipped him with for him to survive in the tropical environment of a rain forest. Seeing him against the monochrome backdrop of Croydon’s central flyover built up with concrete was a stark image that I never forgot.
I did more research online into Croydon’s local resident Mr Mango and came across an article that was written in the local newspaper about the time when he went missing. Attached to the article was a slightly blurred photo (see below) of the tree where he was supposedly found hiding. He was found in an environment closer to his natural environment which as a domesticated parrot he would have never visited. I bumped into him again in town waiting outside McDonald’s as his owner’s friend was purchasing a fruit smoothie and he proudly stretched his wings.
I am interested in how the intended design and function of his colourful attire, that he was born with and is part of his body, is suddenly inverted once he was domesticated and homed in an environment alien to his own. One could say that his owner is appropriating his attire and creating a new dynamic by introducing him to a built up suburban town. He definitely attracts attention for her as she walks down the street and is a colourful friend to be with. All three characters I have introduced have attracted attention from an audience in different ways from the underground anarchist environment of a club scene to the everyday streets of a suburban town.
(Owner Becky Page and Mr Mango)
Croydon and its Banksy moment…
Croydon is currently experiencing a huge transformation and a lot of pressure has been placed on its persona, creating a new and attractive identity for the town that is more in keeping with recent developments and plans for its future. To kick start such plans, a few doses of hype have been added into the mix, the most recent being the arrival of the graffiti artist Banksy with his pop-up shop called Gross Domestic Product situated not far from the McDonalds where Mr Mango spread his wings. The title of the installation cleverly plays with the economic phrase that describes the measure of the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year. Static objects with no real use or purpose on display in a dummy shop pulled large crowds, not only locals but visitors from far and wide as well as collectors flying in from the USA to shop at Frieze London.
In comparison to the more heartfelt performers I have mentioned above who conceal their identities behind their dress and stage names we have another artist with a more calculated mask. It is incredible how much hype was created by an artist who’s real identity remains unknown as he hides behind his brand which strategically makes him more famous as people are intrigued by mystery and again Banksy is playing a game with us and Croydon. It is a perfect excuse to demonstrate how the public are perhaps easily pleased greeted by a display that perhaps laughs at visitors by acting as an antagonizing dummy shop and in turn critiquing human behaviour.
