peeping tom

I was playing with covering the face to create a more 'alien' look. At this point in my work it is about aesthetics I think, the weirder looking the better, and how can the context of the work make it look more alien?

I am also enjoying playing with how the audience perceives the work differently to the wearer. I cut out a section of the lining in this headpiece so that the wearer can see through it. Vision is still restricted but you can make out shapes and forms of things which makes movement easier. However, unless the audience is really close to the piece, they are unaware that the wearer can see, making it more bizarre because movement seems impossible. I am imagining the audience looking at someone in this piece and asking themselves - how are they moving around so well?

Humour is an important part of my work too which is why I think I am always dancing in these short experimental clips of my work. Dancing means I can exaggerate my movements and be as expressive as possible which animates the costume and gives it vitality which I think everyone can relate to. The form and colour is also playful and it is the combination of all of these elements that adds to the comical aspect of my pieces. It is important to me that the audience have a reaction when they see my work and ideally this reaction is laughter (or even a subtle look of bemusement). How can I provoke this reaction? The costume itself being as bizarre or alien as possible will automatically aid this. The environment will also have an affect.

I have been researching the notion of the carnivalesque as part of my research report. John Huzinga talks about play as having its own space and Michael Bahktin talks about the carnival as having its own space too. Whilst in these spaces of both carnival and play, nothing exists outside of them, and within these spaces is laughter. Because everyone is equal and there are no hierarchies in this space this laughter is 'festive' and universal and reaches everyone. I agree with this not just in a the context of carnivals or play, but in all aspects of life. Laughter is universal and if my work can make people laugh or if my work can even be slightly comical then my work is therefore accessible to everyone.