This bloody show : outside and inside the artist's body in performance and video work : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

Utilising autobiographical content and her own body as medium and subject, the artist seeks to represent aspects of risk and self-harming without replicating or staging acts of self-harm. Drawing on writers Lea Vergine, Jennifer Doyle, Maggie Nelson and Amelia Jones, and artist Gina Pane’s performance work, this exegesis identifies points of contention in the production and reception of performative acts of self-harm. Beginning with installation and video works the artist creates tangential situations alluding to anticipation, depersonalization, and self-reflexivity in self-harm. Through this research the artist arrives at eggs as a fluid proxy for the body/self and for dynamics of anxiety in video and live performance works. Additional issues arising involve perceptions harm and risk; the “feminist performance art meets misogynous cinema” dynamic within this MFA work; and the double consciousness, self-management, and projection in being female subject, performer, and artist. This abstract is old now and not totally relevant.