I have been thinking for a while now about an idea for a performance based around smiley face paint, but in a threatening kind of slightly off way. Manic, sick, dangerous smiley. I tried some face paint this evening at the studio. It as not how I had pictured it, I couldn’t decide whether to do paint in a perfectly round, realistic smiley or cover my face completely in yellow paint. I photographed it myself using my tripod in the corridor outside the studio where there is a roof window light, which while probably not cleaned in at least 30 years, gives off a muted light from above, which was what I wanted. The images without flash look as close to what as I was looking for as I could get today.
work concept: outside. disused building site? derelict space. marching around the space. talking non stop. lockdown is getting more and more oppressive, and non ending. Th continual dystopian news, relentless repeated phrases and inevitable shifting of the ending sight. More people dying, more people sick, finger pointing, increased scaremongering. claustrophobia, repetition, days rolling into one. as a mother I have to stay positive and show up and arrange the day, and for that I realise I am truly fortunate, as I doubt Id be this action based if I was only having to mind myself. This piece is an expression of the anxiety and worry merging into madness that we are collectively feeling and the need to plaster on a smile to get tell each other its all going to be ok and that everything is going to be all right.
