Why
Do
You Want To Die
2009
(3 minutes 16 seconds)
Why Do You Want To Die is a pop video about assisted suicide with lyrics that exposes the superficial reasons for wanting to die. This video is one in a series of work on the theme of assisted suicide.
(4 minutes 7 seconds)
I was reminded of this when I watched a television programme where they
were discussing the inclusion of 'fit & healthy' contestants who are
not very thin entering a Miss World contest. So I started to think about
the idea of 'fit & healthy' and how that relates to role models and
disability. I was reminded of the fact that many people associate disability
with illness and I wanted to make a work addressing this.
(text continued on Art Review and You Tube sites.)
(13 minutes 4 seconds)
However in my radio interview if the listener does actually tune in -- they will be lured into a mixture of joviality contrasted with dark subversive humour.
This artwork
was inspired from my experience of being invited to participate in a live
radio interview to do with art and disability issues.
This piece, entitled, The Interview, is constructed from the questions
and remarks made by the original radio interviewer, but the responses
of the two interviewees, Katherine and Esta, are entirely fictional. The
two characters are played by Katherine Araniello and Sean Donaghey and
are products of my imagination.
The Interview was aired in May 2007 on Bob & Roberta Smith's radio programme 'Make Your Own Damn Music'.
The
Interview June 2005
(17 minutes)
I was one of
the artists selected to speak at the Common Sense conference (a gathering
of contemporary disabled artists who presented and discussed their work).
In response I presented a video in which I am interviewed about my work
by an image conscious girl in pink, (Daddy got her the job, you know how
it works…) All the stereotypes are intact as the interviewer preens
herself in the monitor, checking her image, saying yes and no - she hopes
in the right place. She pretends to listen to my answers to her increasingly
banal and offensive questions. Although the piece is humorous to watch
and tongue in cheek, there are serious implications for disabled artists,
commenting on the media’s refusal to take artists with disabilities
seriously. Finally the interviewer asks “You don't have hope?”!
'I Like That' July 2004
(4 minutes 22 seconds)
The video is a parody of the pop industry in which I dance with a mannequin. I have no desire to be a pop star however the inspiration for this piece was to put myself inside a pop video aesthetic and through editing produce a work that could sit comfortably within the mainstream pop video genre.
The pop video is also about body aesthetics -- and rather than a disabled person trying to fit into the considered 'norm' here I have presented a unique look which expands and challenges the conventions.
Jennifer
Jan 2004
(8 minutes 11 seconds)
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(1 minute 20 seconds)
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