Summary
Create a masking form that shares a relationship with your body as well as an assigned partners. Tell a story through performance. Forms must go on the body, must be taken off, and must be displayed when not on a human performer.
Reflection
Aided by my theatre background, this project was a lot of fun to produce. From costuming to script-writing, it was amazing.
Concept Statement
Me and my partner Fabian both had theatre backgrounds, so this project came easily to us. One of the first ideas pitched was something to do with the Zodiac signs. As soon as we found out we were both Cancers, it was set into motion. We wanted to highlight the difference between the scientific astronomy and the metaphorical astrology of Cancer. The performance jumped between us two talking about a respective side, ultimately ending in the realization that they are both necessary to create what Cancer is known for, ending in the powerful shape of the Cancer sign, our masking forms intermingling.
The Zodiac of Cancer (script)
The forms behind the performance.
My form was representative of the metaphorical side of Cancer, literally the crab. The masking form goes over the arm and is modeled after a fiddler’s crab claw, although edited to be geometric and angular to reflect the sharp edges of the constellation. Both forms were painted using a variety of blues and my form had an inclusion of white, representing stars and the pattern on the real life fiddler’s crab claws. The stand was simple and acted as an extension of the form, a black supporting form representing the darkness of a night sky. The figures lay together in an abstraction of the Cancer sign shape.
