Play Girl
Fashioning vintage print pornography into youthful, playful forms creates a new space in which porn invites us to do more than just look. Like playing with our food, porn play is not for self pleasure but a tool for exploration, imagination, nourishment for creativity not desire. By turning porn into agents of play, we confront the drivers of desire, & challenge the female body’s role in desire. The model no longer lounges on furniture, served up on a plate for consumption. Her new purpose pokes fun at the hungry, daring them to become aroused in her invitation to engage instead.
Popporn
ACRYLIC PAINT ON FOUND MEDIA, DIGITAL PRINT ON CARD STOCK
Captivated by the image before us, we pop one piece after another with out much care or consideration, sometimes missing our face entirely.
Upon first glance this overflowing ephemeral delight engages a sense of innocent childhood nostalgia. A salty snack encapsulated in a vintage medium invokes us to go for another until we feel satiated. Such is the invitation of “Popporn”, a delight for the eyes challenges its audience to “go for another” carefully unfurling each piece of indulgence. How many will you “pop” before you feel satiated? More or less in the bright lights of a gallery or in the anonymity of the dark theatre?
“Porno-gami” 1
FOUND MEDIA ON CARD STOCK
From object, to image to object again, “porno-gami” re-objectifies that which has been relegated to image. In re-objectifying hyper imagery, I evolve its purpose. Much in the same manner that internet memes re-contextualize pop imagery, “porno-gami” begs new questions in their evolved constructions. “Porno-gami” 1 offers a pile of body parts. Following the design of a burr puzzle, the interlocking puzzle pieces present porn models as disconnected, disoriented & disembodied objects challenging the threshold of desirability intended in the static image.
Polly Porn Star
FOUND MEDIA ON CARD STOCK, tIN GROMMETS
In removing the model from the magazine page and providing her with points of articulation, I re-imagine the image subject into an action figure I named “Polly Porn Star”. Each action figure, each “Polly,” becomes a proxy for the person who arranges her, and expresses of the identity of the player and not the identity of the figure itself. From the participant’s selection of a “Polly,” to her pose, to the voice the player gives her, “Polly” becomes an avatar for the player in the play session. In play she further loses her identity and assumes that which the player gives her. However, in this loss of identity, she gains new abilities beyond just “lying around” on the magazine page.
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Polly’s Playhouse
ACRYLIC ON CARDBOARD, VINYL STICKERS, READERS, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ON SMART PHONE
Polly’s Playhouse is a toy, specifically a stereoscope, but for whom? Appropriating a visual language developed for young girls & children complete with hot pink DIY stickers, the playhouse reimagines a peep show amidst 1980’s Times Square in NYC. The player accesses the “show” by scanning the QR code using their smart phone. The show takes the viewer along on an activity with Polly Porn Star (a character I created via vintage printed porn). Her adventures, such as “Polly Does Senior Portraits”, challenge the viewer to view Polly as a young girl engaged in fun life activities as herself, or as a delight served up for the pleasure of others. The Porn Star, the summit of feminine performance, and presented in the traditional medium of pornography, is re-photographed in attempt to re-visualize her image. The experience walks a tight rope begging the question for whom is Polly? Are toys & performative characters like “Polly” for children’s play or practice for their developing feminine identities to be performed for a future audience
