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.

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.

Rebirth?

In September this year I was invited by Charlie Jeffery and the Pistoletto Foundation to make a new work in response to the theme of 'rebirth'.   31 artists were invited to make an image on this theme for a group exhibition entitled "1:1" opening in Slovenia next week.  Each work will be presented as a poster, containing the word 'rebirth'.  See these links below for further details.  

http://www.mg-lj.si/node/1122 

http://www.rebirth-day.org  

Images from Homebase Residency Final Show 6th, 7th, 8th July

Sheepwoman's mask and costume.

Sheepwoman watching over my bed.

Props from Sheepwoman's film 

Film running on a loop in Sheepwoman's studio

Audience viewing Sheepwoman's film, with two felt sheep on the wall behind.

A small sheep watches over three props from the film.

The images above show the final installation I made at Homebase Lab Berlin, after living and working with 18 other international artists for three months.  Sheepwoman's new film currently titled "There is a Monster in the Attic" made in collaboration with Joao Vilnei and Aixa Sacco, and featuring Elena Dhal, Rafael Machado, Jimmy Treverton, James Budd Dees and Adrian Brun was shown on a television on a loop as part of an installation comprising of Sheepwoman's mask and costume and the props from the film.  

Partying in the attic.

Plants in the greenhouse tended by Philippa Jeffery and Diego Zavala during the three month residency.

Photographs taken by Christoph Neumann.

Back in Blighty

After spending 3 months in Berlin, Sheepwoman and I are now back in England for a little while.  A number of new projects and collaborations were made during the last three months, not least Sheepwoman's first short film which was made in the last three weeks of the Homebase Residency.  

Many thanks to Joao Vilnei and Aixa Sacco for working with me in the making of this film, it could not have happened without the context of the Homebase residency and the wonderful people I met there.  Thankyou to Rafael Machado, Elena Dhal, Jimmy Treverton, Adrian Brun and James Budd Dees for willingly giving their time and responding inventively to the props we gave them.  Many thanks to Chris Dooks who gave permission to use his music for the film.  

Video still of "The couple with the Sausage" Adrian Brun, James Budd Dees and Sheepwoman

The film is currently being edited for a second time and will be screened in a number of locations in the autumn, see this blog for more details.

On set without the mask    

Rot Beige

This photograph taken by Christoph Neumann documents a rehearsal for "Seven" a new piece in development whilst here at Homebase Residency, Berlin. 

"Seven" was made in collaboration with Joseph Patricio in response to an invitation to make a performative work in the basement of the old Engelhardt brewery on Thulestrasse in Pankow.  The performance was shown during the month of performance art in Berlin.

 

The work  attempts to take the audience of one on a journey across a threshold and into the world of the collective unconscious.  

Selected by a guide in a sheep mask, seven people one at a time, are led through a dark tunnel, sweeping the way with a broom, sheepman crosses a darkened room leading to a smaller inner sanctum.    

A woman seated on a white chair at a white table holds a black book in her hand and invites her guest to be seated.  A candle lit encounter takes place, the sharing of stories perhaps real, perhaps imagined.  Stories of life and death are shared:  a woman who had been living with a dead body in her house for 21 years.  The discovery of a secret room and a very thin man with the key.   A visit to Einstein's laboratory which causes the body to break down into sub-atomic particles.  The ability to spin straw into gold,  the size and weight of the soul, and the sheep cafe were amongst the stories, shared and encountered in the dark basement.

Portrait of the artist as a Sheep

Thankyou to Agnieszka Badger for taking this portrait of Sheepwoman and I during a photoshoot arranged by Mim Saxl at Studio Blanco, Oxford.

The Three Fates

In the coming weeks I will be devising a new performance/installation for Oxford Light Night which takes place in many venues within Oxford town centre on the evening of December 2nd 2011.  Together with a number of artists selected by OVADA I will be showing work in historical rooms not always open to the public at Oxford Town Hall.  Doors open at 5pm and work can be seen until 9pm.

I made this dry-point etching several years ago whilst spending time on my friend's sheep farm.  This orphan lamb died just a few hours after I drew her, she spent her last hours in the warmth of the farmhouse kitchen.

Arboretum

In the summer of 2009 Sheepwoman performed as part of an International Artists Residency at the Arboretum, Nuneham Courtenay Oxfordshire.  The Arboretum has a wonderful collection of exotic trees as well as native woodland.  Sheepwoman wore a blue dress with a nod to the resident peacocks and the beautiful swathes of bluebells found under the canopy of the woodland in springtime.  Sheepwoman sang some songs of love and loss and did a bit of cleaning.  I would like to develop the singing aspect of Sheepwoman, to learn how to project my voice through the mask.  The piece I made was an experiment and could be developed.


http://www.blurb.com/books/1454321

What is Global Sheep Woman Research Laboratory?

In my blog I aim to share images of my work, describe how my work came about, my working methods and ways of thinking, dreaming and making.

                      My work spans the mediums of performance, printmaking, feltmaking and maskmaking.