Staring Eyes and Gaping Mouths

I really enjoyed Rosemarie Garland Thomson’s article, “Staring Back.” As I read it I pictured the performance in my mind… it was pretty mind blowing! I had never heard of this type of art. I think it’s great how self-representative it is! Like the article says, it’s pretty autobiographical, as it is one’s self visually represented through narrative. I can also see how Thomson describes such performances as a “confusing combination.” Thomson continues to describe the performances as compelling and illicit, as the audience is confronted with the artist’s “freakishly different body” as a beautiful form. Although I would be a little astounded, I really wish I could see one of these performances…

As dumb as it sounds, I tried looking for one on YouTube… I failed miserably. I then googled Mary Duffy and found her website. Apparently she’s now more of a painter. On her website, in her About Me, there’s a section that says “My former work as a performance artist… In it, it said… “I would like to be able to show on this website, my last performance, but I can't. Not only are the sound appalling, and the picture less than perfect, but also a record of the performance misses out the essential ingredient, which makes this performance work. The essential ingredient of course is being there.” There goes that… Well I’m sure if I continue to look harder I can find another disabled performance artist.

It’s great we’re covering this in class because it really is something I don’t think I would’ve come across otherwise. I really do look forward to maybe one day actually being at one of these performances.

Like Duffy says... I would be one in the audience with "staring eyes and gaping mouths," but I wouldn't want to make her feel ashamed, but rather accomplished as a true artist.