An interview with artist Nicola Hunter! By Theatre Bristol…

What inspired you to become an artist?

I have always been an artist, being an artist has helped me to survive and to make sense of the world. I remember in the chaos of growing up writing poems and drawing my life. I began as a painter and my paintings would take years, a real physical affair. I used all parts of my body and eventually felt compelled to climb inside of them and from there began to use my body as site and soon after began to find ways to use my body as material.

Why have you returned to live performance for this project?

It was never a conscious decision to leave performance behind, it just so happened that my circumstances led me down that path. I became a mother of 2 and then not long after I became a full time single mother (and had to adjust to the challenges and responsibilities of parenting alone and as a woman and a mother in a patriarchal society there are many!) Every piece of work that I have created over the last 10 years has been brought into the world as necessity for me, it is a release of emotion that I could not have articulated in any other way than using the visual language that I have established over the past decade.

Tell us about the show and what it is about for you.

Lost Bodies is an incredibly personal piece of work, it is about the stages and waves of grief and each time I create the work I go on an authentic journey with it. I have Alison Brierley and Sarah Glass as co-performers who are also journeying with me through our multi-layered collaboration. Alison is my spiritual guide; she prepares the space for transformation, leads me through it and then closes the portal. Sarah Glass and I designed and developed the sound score, which enables me to follow the correct path. Together we take our witnesses on a sensory adventure.

This piece is about the old me and the new me. It is about the journey that I went on to transition and to shed a skin. The journey into the new began with a project that I began in 2014 called Raising the Skirt (www.raisingtheskirt.com) and through this howling, naked, connecting with the earth and my subconscious, listening deeply to my intuition and making connections with some fierce and wonderful humans, the project ignited my fire again. It was in the second year of the project that I met Alison and we connected on a very deep level. Drumming is a huge element of transcendental ritual and the drum we use is hand made by Alison, and the vibrations and sound from the drum is another way to connect with the audience.
My work is always built on personal experience, this piece in particular is about a time my life where I felt very separate to my body, the piece is about finding my voice and connecting with my gut instincts – and in doing so I find my well buried wild. However, it is important to me that I do not open old wounds and so each piece is made for the eyes and the belly of the beholder, I hope that I offer enough layers in the work so that each person involved in the work has enough to want to investigate and go on the journey with me.

What do you hope the audience will experience during the performance?

I cannot expect nor demand that an audience take something away, or be specific about the kind of experience that one should have. However, if people find themselves feeling present, walk away with questions and/or are moved in some way then I am happy.

Why is it important for you to share this work?

This isn’t just a performance, this is a journey. I invite the audience to not only witness the transformation but to become part of it. This piece is for everyone that has ever felt so stripped of themselves, sitting inside their pupa, just waiting for that time to break out and show their wings.

This is a piece of work that says fuck you to the breakers, because what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

A thoroughly enjoyable interview with artist Nicola Hunter, ahead of her shows this coming weekend at ‘Theatre Bristol’. Wishing her all the best with her performances!

SisterSole x

 

Ewa Partum – “It is the Obligation of Every Woman to be a Feminist.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iPGUFOIkzI

“Ewa Partum’s famous Active Poetry installation was inspired by Marcel Proust and the typeface of public signs in Communist Poland. Ewa Partum (born 1945, Grodzisk Mazowiecki near Warsaw, Poland) is a conceptual and performance artist and filmmaker. Her public performance work confronts and invites active participation from the audience within the space and objects she uses. Throughout the 1970s and 80s she made challenging and pioneering feminist art under the confines of Communist Poland. Her most famous performance piece Active Poetry was influenced by the flowing nature of text, language and letters in the work of Marcel Proust.” TATE SHOTS.

What are your thoughts on artist Ewa Partum and her work? The specific statement that “It is the obligation of every woman to be a Feminist”? Also, this piece delivered by Tate Shots? As always it would be great to hear your thoughts and opinions and so please do leave a comment in the space provided. I look forward to hearing from you.

SisterSole x

 

 

 

‘Raising the Skirt’ with Performance Artist Nicola Hunter and Izzie Abbottobad…

After the powerful and provocative ‘Raising the Skirt’ exhibition I completely fell in love with artist Nicola Hunter (Formerly Nicola Canavan). For those of you who are unfamiliar, here is just a small insight into the project…

“The gesture of lifting the skirt has been translated across the world. It is known as Anasyrma or Ana-Suromai (Ancient Greek), Anlu (Kom Communities) and many others. A flash of the cunt has been known to calm other forces of nature too, in Madras (India) women were known to subdue storms by exposing themselves. In other folklore Women could drive away the devils, evil spirits and warriors as seen in Fontaine’s ‘Nouveaux Contes’, all through the power and beauty of their cunts. ‘Raising the Skirt’ has influenced my practice for many years (www.nicolacanavan.com); by questioning notions of beauty and the status of women socially and culturally across many religions, and how this affects how the female body is translated across mass media; it is important to step back in moving forward. ‘Raising the Skirt’ aims to reclaim the cunt as a powerful tool in assertion.”

Delighted to learn that images ” from the 2015 workshop which have yet to be released will be made available through a series of powerful exhibitions and talks throughout 2016 and 2017. Other projects include ‘LANDING IN HER SKIN. Motherness What is it to birth a child?’ and ‘mOTHER.MAMA.OTHER.where one starts and the other begins’.

Nicola Hunter has also produced an extensive array of ‘Live Performance’ and ‘Performance to Camera’ pieces, as well as ‘Video’ and other ‘Multi-Media and Text’ creations. If you are a proponent of realism and empowering women then take a look at http://www.nicolacanavan.com/

What do you think about this article? I am particularly interested in peoples attitudes towards breast feeding in public places. I know some perceive it to be very much natural and normal while others squirm at the thought! Many people being offended and expressing a clear distaste for the practice. Where do you stand in all of this? Please share your thoughts and opinions on all or any of the issues raised by Nicola Hunter through her projects and performance art. I would love to hear what you think! Maybe you know of other women who are making their mark on the performance art scene? Other individuals who are out there killing it but have yet to be recognised? Please do get in touch, I would love to hear from you.

Izzie Abbottobad

‘An Art Made of Trust, Vulnerability and connection’ Marina Abramovic.

This woman needs no introduction… Marina Abramovic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4so_Z9a_u0

SisterSole x