Women Appear (and sometimes they learn how to disappear)
performance / installation / 2017
Below: photographic self portraits by Julianne Chapple
Inspired by the well known John Berger quote ‘Men act, women appear,' this solo work takes place in an installation resembling a retro living room. Set to the greatest hits of 1972, the artist communicates with her guests via hand written notes, employing a movement score that utilizes muscular release and an open body position, defiantly repositioning these historically sexualized physicalities towards empowerment.
This project began as a photographic exploration of self portraiture supported by the Shooting Gallery Performance Series, and has since expanded into a complex examination of images of women and one performer's conflicted desire to take control of her audience's perceptions.
Premiered at Visualeyez Festival of Performance Art, Latitude 53, Edmonton, September 2017
Written response by Michael Woolley: http://www.visualeyez.org/2017/11/13/julianne-chapple-women-appear-and-sometimes-they-learn-how-to-disappear/
Above: photographic documentation of performance at Latitude 53 shot by Adam Waldron-Blain, September 2017
Below: documentation of performance at Here For Now, Vancouver, Dec 2018
Welcome
Please relax and enjoy your stay.
You may sit, stand, or move through the room at your leisure.
You may peruse the available reading materials for the duration of your stay. Please remain quiet, and keep to yourself.
Please be advised that:
-muscular relaxation may make you appear passive and/or sexually available
-taking up too much space may be seen as an act of aggression
-taking up to little space may be seen as a weakness
-making eye contact with an observer may make you appear complicit in your being watched
-not making eye contact with an observer may make you appear complicit in your role as object
-adopting the role of observer may be seen as siding with your oppressors -flexibility is essential when slipping through cracks
-an observer's low expectations may work to your advantage
-being invisible can be an asset