BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY (2008) RETURN TO PERFORMANCE MENU

For any artist exhibiting their work, a thick skin is a prerequisite. To put an element of self up for scrutiny by strangers is redoubled in performance art, as it lacks the benefit of one degree of separation afforded by an object or image. Nor does it have the editing process of the playwright and director or the distance of the stage as in theatre.

To put one’s own body in the space of an object is often a frightening experience. As part of a group exhibition curated by Johan Thom, Big Girls Don’t Cry was the opening act. Spoofing the introductory speech of a curator, the performance took the form of a modified version of the Four Seasons’ Big Girls Don’t Cry and profiled, not the content of the show, but rather the personal trepidation that the audience’s judgement might leave the artists in tears.