Tag Archives: Gabriel Davies

My station

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We all will be experiencing all the stations but my main one is about body image.

I wanted to challenge myself as a person but make someone think differently. That we shouldn’t judge our bodies, our another person’s body. We need to notice that body image is a social construct.

I myself have always struggled with body image, I suffer from bulimia and often self harm my body, but I wonder what makes me that way? I remember in high school being bullied for my weight, my hair, the way my legs are shaped and even for my disabilities such ridiculous things but it hurt me.

I know it is not only me, this is incredibly common.

“50-88% of adolescent girls feel negatively about their body shape or size.
49% of teenage girls say they know someone with an eating disorder.
Only 33% of girls say they are at the “right weight for their body”, while 58% want to lose
weight. Just 9% want to gain weight.
Females are much more likely than males to think their current size is too large (66% vs. 21%).
Over one-third of males think their current size is too small, while only 10% of women consider
their size too small.”
This is the world we grow up in, this is so common nowadays in society we don’t even think about it, with models too thin, where you have to be a muscular man  and if you’re imperfect well then you aren’t worth thinking about.
I want my audience to go away with the feeling of self worth, to understand that I was not judging their body, that I found their body beautiful, not in a sexual way but to show they are beautiful.
I plan to talk and show the parts of my body, I hate or love or merely want to comment on and I will encourage them to do the same.
I want to show our bodies no matter what they look like are nothing to be ashamed of, not ugly, or wrong in any way.
This may be tough for the audience and I understand that as it will be hard for me too but I hope at least some will decide to do it and feel better about themselves afterwards. I want them to not need to hide their bodies, to be comforted in the fact they are beautiful.
To be as a small child again who doesn’t care what their body looks like.
[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/img/adol_ch13.pdf. [Accessed 24 November 2013].

Intimacy

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In our work in progress today, I found we need to work on intimacy. Even though I was on laptop typing anonymously to them, it was still an intimate setting, only myself and performer reading it, sharing secrets and habits.

I felt if I had longer time, the questions and talk was on the surface, I believe to go deeper and share more intimate things, I would need the time to gain trust, for the conversation to naturally go deeper.

“Traditionally, theatre has been a communal experience, but Lois Keidan of the Live Art Development Agency argues that in the age of the internet, the opportunity for audiences to have face-to-face encounters in real time with real people is enormously appealing. “It feels more real than real life,” she says, “and because it isn’t a mass experience you know that nobody is going to have the same experience as you have. It makes the event unique and it makes you feel special.”

This quote is what I inspire to do, make my audience feel unique and special, whether I am on the hugging station, the laptop station or the greeting. I want to make my audience feel special, to go with our theme of child -like, unadulterated, I want to take them through this experience and to feel special by the time it comes to the ending.

I feel I need to do a practice run and see how it goes with the natural time of the piece.

One-on-one live-art performances | Stage | The Guardian . 2013. One-on-one live-art performances | Stage | The Guardian . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/mar/03/theatre2. [Accessed 19 November 2013].

 

 

Can I do what I ask the audience to do? (GRAPHIC)

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With my particular station I wanted to explore how we feel about our bodies, can we show someone the things we hate and even love about ourselves? I realized as a performer I need to be able to do what I ask of the audience.

This picture of Adrian Howell’s inspired me.

adrian

How could I ask an audience member to do something so emotional as show me the bits of their bodies they hate and love. To talk to me about why they hate and dislike it without willing to be able to do it myself? I can only let my audience feel safe while doing this if I am also doing the exact same thing.

So today I did an experiment I took photos of the parts of my body I cannot stand, it was difficult even though I was on my own in my room, It was just me and my camera, yet I felt so vulnerable, I also found though I was willing to do this, when it comes to it, I can open myself up to a stranger, I can do it, I am willing to open up the lines of communication, which for our performance I think is incredibly important.

Some of my body parts which I hate, captured for anyone to see, anyone to comment or judge. Though I agree with Adrian Howell’s even though it was just me in my room, taking photos.

“It is a tenderising experience, and I hope it is a profound one for both of us. Quite often people break down and cry; there are very few people who do not in some way surrender to the experience.”
Adrian Howells

I gave in to the experience, I cried over the photos, over my looks and in a way did feel lighter in myself, this was only by myself, I look forward into seeing how it would be with someone else.

IMG_5137 IMG_5139 IMG_5142 IMG_5144

Adrian Howells | Final Fling. 2013. Adrian Howells | Final Fling. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.finalfling.com/funerals-celebrations/ceremony-planners/adrian-howells. [Accessed 18 November 2013].

Our first practice

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Based off Adrian Howells performances from where he hugged strangers, for our performance we are inspired by Adrian, the way he breaks down walls and gets incredibly close to the audience this is what we want to achieve.

Practice makes perfect though and we decided to try it out ourselves as a group, the results were interesting and each person had a different experience.

On the video we discuss how it felt for us as a spectator and participator, by doing this by ourselves we found we wanted to give our audience a feeling of a journey. Breaking down the walls of social norm.

We went through different stages of hugs and intimacy, from sitting up and hugging down to hugging under the covers with the lights off, each caused a new experience. To explore this more we would like to find complete strangers to join us in this performance.

Gabriel.