Doppelganger

Sheepwoman's Dreams

Sheepwoman has been busy since August, making images in her studio, here she is back inside her dreams.

Auxxx Year of the Sheep January 20th 2015

http://www.auxxx.blogspot.de

In Search of a Studio Space in Berlin 2015

After an extended break from my work I am now searching for a studio space in Berlin from January 2015.  I am looking for a clean, warm, light, self-contained space in which to continue my work, re-group, research and develop my practice. For any hints, tips or leads please write to philippajeffery@gmail.com. Many thanks in advance.

Sheep Psychiatry

I have decided to share this short video which was made during a residency in Berlin last summer.

I see this piece as a work in progress, which was made very quickly and with the most minimal of equipment. The piece entitled "There is a Monster in the Attic" is a collaboration between Philippa Jeffery, Joao Vilnei, and Aixa Sacco, as well as the five artists we invited to collaborate with us and who improvised their roles in response to a prop we gave to each one.

It is also a virtual collaboration with Chris Dooks who very generously allowed us to use his music.

I personally would like to see the film shortened by 10 minutes and to improve the sound quality, but here it is, as it is for now and is really a reflection of the quality of time and of the undercurrents felt during the three month residency at Homebase Lab, Berlin in the Spring and Summer of 2013.

Many thanks to Joao Vilnei, Aixa Sacco, Rafael Machado, Elena Dhal, Jules Treverton, Adrian Brun, James Budd Dees and Chris Dooks who all contributed so much to the making of this short video.

Sheepwoman on Dreams

Here is a link to an article I wrote for an new online magazine founded by Veronica Cordova.   The article is an extract from a longer interview about my work and looks specifically at my relationship to dreams and dreaming over the past 15 years or so.

http://vibrationsartjournal.com/2014/01/29/212/

Escape from the King

Above is a short video clip showing an excerpt from a three hour game that spontaneously erupted when a group of boys, aged about 8, encountered Sheepwoman at Buddhafield festival in the summer of 2011. 

I had been asked by a friend to perform a number of promenade performances during the four day festival in the Blackdown Hills, Somerset, England.  I have written about another performance I made during the festival here; http://globalsheepwomanresearchlaboratory.blogspot.de/2012/05/girl-and-golden-thread.html

My approach to "performing" at this time was to be completely spontaneous and open to whatever happened. So as soon as I put on the mask, I set off in my 'white sheep' costume in daylight, which was in stark contrast to the black sheep I had performed at night previously and of which I have written in the above post.  
I was quite taken aback however, when fifteen minutes into my performance and just having flirtatiously gate crashed a meeting of musicians in a marquee, I found myself standing in a field surrounded by a small gang of boys armed with sticks and swords.

Within minutes of encountering Sheepwoman the boys seemed intent on attack, my vision inside the mask is extremely limited and I could feel their presence all around me.  I started to feel like a vulnerable animal under attack, as for the boys somehow the presence of Sheepwoman seemed to bring out an instinctive, archetypal urge to attack, and kill the sheep or sacrificial lamb.  Within perhaps ten minutes of the "game" beginning the boys formed themselves into a hierarchy with a self appointed King, who from then on made decisions and gave orders as to whether Sheepwoman or "the sheep" could live or die.  

I tried a number of tactics to deal with the boys who lashed out at me and hit me with their sticks and plastic swords. I charged at them which sent them all running away very fast, but soon they were back, surrounding me on all sides.  I used body language to show I was not a threat, I oscillated between confrontation, negotiation and escape.  I found a kindly looking mother sitting next to a fire pit, I sat at her feet and sought her intervention on my behalf.  

"But why do you want to kill the sheep?" 
"Because I'm the King!"
"But look she is so gentle and kind" said the mother.
"No!" shouted the king "We will kill the sheep! The sheep must die!!"
"But you can see she has a kindly face, feel her soft fleece"
"No! shouted the king, "She is a white sheep, we don't like white sheep!" 
"I'm the King and we will kill the sheep!"

So I got to my feet and started to run again.  The mother could not protect me from the boys.
I searched for a way to escape their taunts and threats of violence. I ran into a marquee where a tango class was taking place, Sheepwoman dodged through the dancing couples with the boys making chase and chanting "Kill the sheep! Kill the sheep!" 

As I scarpered out of the tango class I hurled myself onto the ground landing on a stall selling sheepskin rugs.  I felt like a hunted animal, whilst the sheepskin rugs provided a soft landing, I was painfully aware of the slaughter that had taken place to provide these wonderfully warm and cosy rugs. I was seriously mistaken in thinking that the sheepskin salesman would provide some kind of protection to Sheepwoman!  After a few minutes of rest amongst the fleeces he pushed me away - disturbed by my presence.  So the chase began again as I fled from the marauding King and his minions.

In the scene above Sheepwoman imagines she can get away from the boys by hitching a lift on a Land Rover.  She did not get very far and the boys seemed to think that getting onto the bonnet of a vehicle was flouting the rules of the game.  Sheepwoman continued on up the hill with the boys in tow, occasionally stopping for breaks for us all to catch our breath, perhaps after several hours victim and predators had made a bond.

The King decided as we all rested amongst some straw bales that if I was in a marquee I could live, if I was on a stage or on a carpet I could live, but if my feet touched the grass then I would die.  So the chase continued across the grass and muddy fields in and out of cafe's, tents and marquee's as I sought the protection of the adults. I found a band playing in a cafe and sought a few minutes solace on the stage at the feet of the drummer who protected me for a little while and as the rules seemed to get more complex as to whether "the sheep" could live or die.  Later the king decided that as I was a white sheep that perhaps he might let me live after all.  

The performance or game ended when the gang of boys followed Sheepwoman all the way back to her camp. There I finally took off my mask and immediately the dynamics shifted between us.  As Sheepwoman, or as "the sheep" I had genuinely engaged with the fear of a hunted animal despite the fact that I was being chased by such small boys. Without my mask the King diminished in his power and he could no longer threaten me. Now I was a grown woman and he was a young boy and he told me that of course he did not want to hurt me, that it had just been a game.   For the boys I think it was a day they will always remember to play for hours with an adult willing to 'play' for so long, and that the figure of Sheepwoman was genuinely quite scary and threatening to them.  Somehow the figure of Sheepwoman brought out an archetypal drive to scapegoat, or slaughter the sheep in the boys' imagination.

With thanks to Keith Fisher who made this video clip.