When Donnah one of my alter-ego’s smashed up an old colonial tea chest with a pick axe in a public square, the deputy manager of Specsavers opticians called the police. Her customers were scared. Despite the presence of a camera operator and support person explaining the nature of the performance, and the fact I had (sort of) permission, I chose to stop the performance and tried to explain. But Donnah did not want to stop, and carried on. I know there was part of me in that scenario thinking why should I stop, but had it been only people pleasing Dawn, it’s highly unlikely I doubt I would have continued.
A few people have asked me questions about the alter-egos, are they “taking over” and when is it really me “just acting.”? I would usually say something about the feeling in the moment, and the concept of a pendulum swinging in and out, sometimes slowly so there are longer periods when I feel totally immersed in one of the alter-egos and other times when Dawn/I are very close to the alter-ego and there are rapid and fluid transitions. (This is more in the realm of a “persona,” a constructed public face or role that blends the performative and the personal.) But it also depends on the alter-ego, how long i’ve worked with them, is it the start of the process and what they are doing and where. In the studio or my local park there where I am very comfortable, I can lose Dawn for hours. Although “I” am also always there.
This rings true, as my audience they know it’s not entirely Dawn they are watching but also it clearly isn’t….
This work with alter-ego’s has a long history with some fantastic artists I really admire (more on this later) there is a lot to learn from. Richard Schechner’s book mentioned in the previous blog and above , shares some relevant distinctions between the “make believe” - where an intentional boundary exists between the performance (on a stage for e.g.) and the everyday reality, and “make belief” where the performances intentionally blur the boundary. This rings true, as my audience they know it’s not entirely Dawn they are watching but also it clearly isn’t. My alter-ego’s have costumes but sometimes they don’t wear them.
My alter-egos are secondary identities that i’ve constructed, they allow me to explore facets of identity that are markedly different from me, they are deliberately crafted, sustained and experimental, they play with different normals. Like Lady Gaga I have an approach that links to the idea of a networked self/ selves. There isn’t one individual self, I distribute multiple potential selves across different fields / variations. You might meet Doris, Donnah, Tatyana or the little one in many different forms and contexts, thinking about different questions, making artworks in different forms, feeling themselves… in a non Cartesian dualistic way :)