Mighty White
(3 min video excerpt)
Performance at Bundaberg Regional Gallery
10 min video, DVD loop
Bundaberg Regional Gallery was once a bank and before that a customs house. The space I performed in was once a vault. This not only informs the tight composition of the video but also the presentation of spices, with their historical significance as status symbols, piled high on Medieval European dinner tables in a conspicuous display of affluence and wealth. I also made use of/employed the facemask that negates taste and smell and in turn points to my unconventional use of spices, in conjunction with a chef hat/mask that conceals my identity. When reviewing footage of the performance I was intrigued by my arms that visually blend into the wall of the gallery to slowly reappear as the congealed layers of spice, oil and egg underneath absorbed the white flour. This work references the interchangeable skins we present to the world and how we identify with, or maybe more importantly don’t identify with, what we eat and therefore other things that traditionally defined us, like family and community. Significantly, this farming region is my family home so I was keen to inject an aspect of autobiography. Mighty White refers to a generic brand of white bread popular in my childhood; something I devoured while contemplating the exotic origins of Masterfoods spice bottles that hung unused like a still life on my grandmother’s wall. This work also refers to suburban homogeneity as it relates to the term, white bread eating habits.
