Ashley Doherty talks to Contemporary Performer Ariane about Who is this now? / For no one, a mix of live art and video installation, to be showcased at the Drama and Theatre Arts Graduate Show at the end of the month.
You focus on the subject of beauty, or our perception of it, where did the inspiration for this exploration come from?
My background is in psychology and because of that I was interested in the concept of mental disorder, especially in women. I’m interested in the people that choose to believe they have an illness when they really don’t, the people who find out about disorders then they “wear” the disorder that suits them. Then I began to look at the other side of the story, when people perceive you as being “normal” but you know that your not.
Do you think this link between beauty, “normality” and the need to label yourself is a contemporary issue and if so, will that be something that you’ll explore in your performance or installation?
I don’t want to go down the route of exploring what the television makes you believe. I’m really not trying to pin down a culture; in a way the subject of beauty is universal. Regardless of where you live or who you are, everyone gets that feeling when they walk out of the shower and have those five seconds when you go “who am I?” People often say we put on a mask for other people but I think we actually put on a mask for ourselves and so, it’s not necessarily a contemporary issue, just a natural one.
You’re really pushing the boundaries of not only our perception of beauty, but also our perception of art. What led you to come up with the idea of fusing a video installation with a live performance?
I work visually, I can’t start working until I draw something and see how it actually looks- that’s the only way that I can organise my thoughts. My first idea was to have a beauty parlour and people could have a head massage or whatever they wanted and could talk about their dreams or anything that they wanted to. Then the videos started, sort of by accident, as part of an exercise in class for me to evaluate what my performance looked like and I was really impressed with what people thought of it.
Regardless of where you live or who you are, everyone gets that feeling when they walk out of the shower and have those five seconds when you go “who am I?”
Where did the inspiration for the title of your show come from?
I like to think abstractly, Who is this now is from a poem in Portuguese and For no one is from the Beatles song: I’m not using the actual song though. It’s just the feeling of the song that inspired me and I didn’t want to bring the connotations that come from the song into the actual performance. I like things that make me feel, not if they make me think or question, I like to feel inundated by emotion and this is what I would like to do with my installation. I don’t want people to come in and ask “what is she trying to tell me” but rather “wow, this makes me feel something.”
Looking back at your time on the Drama and Theatre Arts course, and particularly you specialism (Contemporary Performance in Action), what would you say you have gained from it?
Now I see myself as having the opportunity of being a performer if I want to. I mean it goes quite far back, all of my family are artists, in some respect, so I always felt like I was faking it because they all knew so much. So, I’ve learnt how to re-create myself, and be who I want to be. I like the fact that, in my solo work, I actually own my work and I’m responsible for it. In order to make myself understood I have to show the performance but before I get there, I can just live inside my head for ages, and I really enjoy that process of getting to a common ground. It’s intimate and you can allow yourself to speak from your heart. It’s a really fulfilling experience to put something on so personal to you.
Contemporary Performance in Action is a very versatile specialism, how would you describe it to an outsider?
It’s about questioning what art is now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that art is everywhere and everything. There’s also lot of contextual understanding involved in the course, we do talk about site-specific because it’s a big trend, but we look back to the Wooster Group to try and understand its beginnings. And, also, importantly, look to the future and try to ascertain what audiences want from the theatre now. You’re so free to take what you want from all of these aspects and I’ve tried to merge most of them into my performance and installation. It’s good that the course is so intense because you learn for life from it. You learn to think and to understand.
Finally, tell us what audiences can expect from your show.
It’s a mix of live art and video installation, there are no rules, it will be open for two hours at a time and you can be selective in what you explore and view, you can go and can back when you like. The piece itself is whatever you want it be; I hope that each person will get something different from their own personal experiences of it.
Alone, Face to Face will open in Studio 6, Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh, EH21 6UU on Friday 1st April 14:00-16:00 and Saturday 2nd April 17:00-19:00. Reserve places at qmugradshow2011@gmail.com