The Hidden Pin Up #24 - Debut at The Whitworth Art Gallery

Sister

You've been on my mind
Sister, we're two of a kind
So sister
I'm keepin' my eyes on you
I betcha think
I don't know nothin'
But singin' the blues
Oh sister, have I got news for you
I'm somethin'
I hope you think
That you're somethin' too
 

On 22nd September The Hidden Pin Up made its debut at The Whitworth Art Galley. This was a day myself and fellow collaborator Darren Pritchard of the House of Ghetto (HOG) had been aiming towards for a long time and it was so worth the wait!

Working with HOG dancer Lenai Russell and singer Justina Aina, our two superb performers, we'd chosen a staircase in the gallery that not only worked as a great theatrical stage but also led the way up to the Bodies Of Colour wallpaper exhibition, which tackles the racial stereotypes and representations found in design through history, and tied in so perfectly with the themes of The Hidden Pin Up.

Arriving early on the day so that we could set up I felt excited to see people already turning up for the first of the day's hourly performances.

As the first notes of Miss Celie's Blues flooded the huge open space, everyone's eyes were led to the sultry movements of Lenai on the upper floor, hidden behind the hemp fans and wearing the hemp showgirl costume I'd created. As the song took hold she told it's story of female solidarity against oppression effortlessly, making her way down the stairs while dancing with the fans, which was no mean feat. I was so impressed with how graceful and focused she was and also noticed, after seeing the rehearsals, how the presence of the audience elevated her performance further.

Once the song had ended, the second half of the performance kicked in with a house beat and almost immediately Justina's powerful vocals layered over Lenai's vogue driven assent back up the stairs. The effect was exactly what we'd hoped for with the sensuous movements that invited the eye contrasting so vividly with Justina's provocative singing/ spoken word performance, sometimes humourous sometimes accusative, using the words of stories I'd collected from women of colour and stitched onto the fans. Justina was just brilliant and took the whole piece into a new dynamic.

The piece ended with both performers reaching the upper floor and disappearing from view as the music faded out. Loads of people turned up for each performance and the applause was really gratifying as was the huge amount of feedback.

 Many people said they wanted to see more, or would be happy to watch an extended piece and I personally wasn't expecting how moved many individuals were. Various people said the piece touched them deeply and they found the work powerful. This really fuels me and makes me feel that all the research and setting up was worth it!

Accompanying the performance piece I also ran two workshops that tied in with the Bodies Of Colour exhibition and the overall theme of racial stereotypes and misrepresentation that set the day. The workshops were a chance for participants to create their own political wallpaper designs inspired by the exhibition and The Hidden Pin Up. The results were impressive and there was lots of lively chat about the topic.

In all, the day was really successful and I'm so happy that the work spoke for itself and made such an impact. One woman told me she had traveled from Glasgow to see it! It was lovely to speak to people about the work, let them get close to the fans and to share ideas and thoughts between performances.

Thanks to everyone who came on the day, and for those who couldn't make it, we had the performance filmed professionally and will be sharing it in time. Also myself and Darren are hoping to take this work further, evolve it and show it again in the future, so definitely watch this space! The Hidden Pin Up will return...

The Hidden Pin Up - #19 About the fans

 
Now that choreography has begun on The Hidden Pin Up (see last post) I thought I'd do a little overview on the burlesque fans I created as they are in integral part of the work which explores the black Pin Up, a figure lost in time due to prejudice and the racial fetishes that still surround women of colour to this day.

Based on traditional burlesque fans, I decided to use hessian instead of luxurious feathers to replace the usual glamour with something basic and crude. This was to highlight the 'primitive' and 'savage' stereotypes about women of colour that have surfaced throughout the project and also the hessian harks back to collective ideas of plantations, slavery, poverty and the unrefined. 

An added bonus to using hessian to create individual feathers was that the frayed materiel moves and looks like dried grass, which added another layer of meaning to the fans, evoking tribal garments like headdresses and skirts that typified the stereotypical view of the uncultured 'exotic'. You can see how I made the fans HERE

I knew I wanted to decorate the fans in some way and as the project progressed it became ever more apparent to me that women of colour today face the same prejudices and fetishes as their vintage Pin Up counterparts, in fact, today's women of colour are still dealing with a hangover from colonialism and Western privilege that began centuries ago. 

With this in mind I started to collect real life stories of racial fetishes towards contemporary women of colour. Friends and colleagues and women I had never met shared their tales and an uncomfortable pattern of everyday micro aggressions began to emerge. These became the inspiration for the embroidered words on the feathers. 

I used different shades of brown black and tan and I wasn't too bothered about how much the words stood out because micro aggressions aren't always easy to spot. Some are glaringly obvious and others can sit there unnoticed yet still leave a mark.

With the stories in place the fans became a physical barrier between the viewer and the dancer that spoke only of false fantasies, bias and discrimination, not of the true person behind them. They became a literal way to hide the dancer mimicking the project's title, The Hidden Pin Up and highlighting the fact that real black and non white Pin Up's from the vintage era were largely obscured from the mainstream due to these stereotypes.

There are spaces left on the fans which I hope to fill up as the project continues and I'd like to collect new stories at every performance. Perhaps if I get enough I might even stitch onto the dancer's hessian costume too so that eventually she is covered. 

The fans were made to be danced with but also be seen as a stand alone piece that tell the history and ongoing story of the black Pin Up. I'm excited to see how they progress.

The Hidden Pin Up #15 - Costume Fitting

Yesterday I met up with the House of Ghetto for the first fitting of the outfit I made for The Hidden Pin Up project. This hemp costume is based on 1940's/50's burlesque styles and is in itself a burlesque of the stereotypical Western ideology of women of colour from that time.

I took influence from girly vintage magazines and Hollywood films of the vintage era to create something immediately recognisable and cliche.

 

I worked directly from my original drawing to make the costume as close to my ideas as possible. It was only after trying the bra top on myself I realised it needed something extra to help keep it in place and stop it from riding about. I based this asymmetric shoulder strap with a flowing back tassel on the costume worn by Marilyn Monroe for her 'Heatwave' number in 'There's No Business Like Show Business'. This is a great example of old Hollywood's version of an 'exotic' non white women, being that it is meant to portray South American sexiness (personally, I have always loved this costume, it is so well designed and put together)...

Here are a few of the other examples of images I used as inspiration for this costume, beginning with Jeni LeGon who was one of the first women I learned about back when I began the Hidden Pin Up. 

LeGon was one of the first women of colour to sing and dance in mainstream Hollywood films. Unfortunately her talents were soon marginalised to unnamed 'native' caricatures like this from the 1936 film 'Swing Is here To Stay'

Evelyn Pitcher's burlesque costume from the 1950's was a strong inspiration. She could have been posing/performing as anything, but she is shown as an exotic savage moving savagely to her 'Devil Dance'.

The White Squaw from 1956 sure knows how to pull off sexy/ savage! I thought this film poster shows the perfect mix of sexy frothy misguided ideas. She might be white but she is appropriating a crude version of non white cultures that were palatable for the Western audience.

 I'm really pleased with how the costume has turned out and after fitting it on gorgeous dancer Lenai, there are only a few minor adjustments needed.

I'm so excited to be working with The House of Ghetto for this project! This all female black vogue house are an artistic force to be reckoned with, and as their house mother and choreographer Darren Pritchard has pointed out, they have no creative boundaries. I'm really excited that this will be their first full on burlesque inspired work and I can't wait to see where this piece goes.

With my burlesque fans almost ready, the next stage is for us to get into the dance studio to begin putting ideas together for the performance.

Burlesque fan with quotes from real life experiences of racial fetishism towards women of colour embroidered into the feathers. To add your own story, get in touch! Comment on this blog or message me on my facebook page

The Hidden Pin Up is an art piece exploring the history of the black Pin Up and the racial fetishes and stereotypes that exist to this day. To find out more about this project read The Hidden Pin Up posts on this blog and follow me on Instagram @gemma_parker_artist

Massive thanks to my mum for her sewing knowledge and letting me use her sewing machine!

The Hidden Pin Up #14 - Bet You're a Tiger In The Sack/ Can I Touch Your Hair?

 

How many of you have heard these before? It seems saying inappropriate things to women of colour is a common occurrence. I'd love to hear if you have ever had similar said to you to add to the Hidden Pin Up project. As you can see stories are transcribed in thread onto hessian feathers. The feathers make up a pair of burlesque fans which will be danced with by Manchester's House Of Ghetto, an all black female dance troupe for a performance exploring the history of the black Pin Up and the racial stereotypes and fetishisations which still exist to this day!

Here's the latest response to the call out. Tell me what you think and share your stories! You can comment anonymously on this post or contact me on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GemmaParkerArtist/ 

...a guy in a bar in Southport drunkenly staring (swaying) finally coming over to tell me “you’re pretty for a black girl”. 

Another was in Uni, a guy I was getting a little friendly with stopped what we were doing to say “this is weird, I’ve never slept with a black girl before”...

The Hidden Pin Up #13 - I'm not really into black girls but...

I'm still looking for stories of racial fetishisation from women of colour for The Hidden Pin Up project. I am transferring them onto the hessian feathers of the burlesque fans I have made that will be danced with by Manchester's House of Ghetto as part of a performance exploring the history of the black Pin Up.

Below is one of the most recent responses I've had. If this rings any bells with you, get in touch and tell me your story! You can share anonymously in the comments section of this blog or message me on my Facebook page. Contributions posted on my blog will be anonymous. To find out more about this project search this blog for The Hidden Pin Up series.

My experience has mainly been in the work place and passing/sweeping statements about my culture/hair, and just my work colleague’s lack of understanding and ignorance of black culture and heritage. 

So for example I am the only POC in my office and I have comments like ‘how do you get your hair like that', ‘can you brush it’, ‘what happens when it gets wet’ ‘can you tie it in a bobble’, ‘can i touch your hair’ , ‘never realised it was that soft’. 

I could go on and on but they are some of the daily micro-aggressions I have encountered. 

The Hidden Pin Up #12 - You can be my mocha

I am getting some great stories in from my call out for your tales of black fetishisation for The Hidden Pin Up project, thank you, please keep them coming. 

The title of this post is from one of those stories, in fact the first one one I collected and I think it perfectly encapsulates the preconceived notions and misjudged ideas many black females face on an everyday basis. 

The article 'Is your sexual desire for black people racist' from everydayfeminism.com states,

'When you focus on stereotypes instead of treating a person like an individual shaped by their heritage, background, and unique experiences, that person becomes an extension of your imagination'

...and what poor and filthy imaginations some people have as shown below in the message I had sent in today. 

Please contact me to share your own experiences of black fetishisation, all messages will be posted anonymously and may be used as part of the art work for this project. Check out The Hidden Pin Up posts on this blog to find out more:

Hey Gemma! I have a few gems for you .... I've had a lifetime of it tbh but standout favourites include the classic: I'm not really into black girls but you're amazing

Also on tinder: 'I've never fucked a black girl before'

(and you never will :))

Recently from a white guy 'do you prefer white guys?'??? is he asking 'am I a racist'

baffling

At a bar one time with my then boyfriend: 'What's a sexy sister like you doing with a white guy'

Frequently being addressed as 'Sista' bc we are all sassy charactures and love to be called that by white guys...

Also 'I bet you're a tiger in the sack' and other variations on that, though Idk if that's race related or just general gross

The Hidden Pin Up #11 - Share your stories

Leave a comment below to share your story anonymously or go to my facebook page to message me.

Thank you

The Hidden Pin Up #10 - Meeting with The House of Ghetto

Today I traveled to STUN Studios in Hulme to meet Darren Pritchard the House of Ghetto's house mother and House of Ghetto (HOG) dancer Lenai who will be dancing with my hemp burlesque fans for my Hidden Pin Up project. I was so excited!
 

It was great to chat about the project and see how the fans looked in hold which also gave me a chance to see how they handled. The fans are unfinished as yet because I still plan on embroidering words and phrases into the feathers which will be inspired by true stories of black fetishisation. 

While at the studio I got my first story from Darren as he recounted how Lenai's sister had been dating a guy who told her 'You can be my mocha'. Not only is this totally cringe worthy it's also a perfect example how black women can still being treated as 'exotics' and further highlights how the stereotypes given to the black Pin Up from the vintage era have survived today.

We also discussed costume ideas and I took some measurements of Lenai for the outfit I am currently putting together. My designs are based on examples that are blatantly not authentic but a western amalgamation of 'black/savage looks' used in mainstream films and pop culture. 

I want to keep the look vintage Pin Up but also have that unsophisticated inauthentic theme. Everything will be made from hemp to complete the raw primitive aesthetic behind the fans. I am loving how the hemp can be sculpted, frayed and cut to create different shapes and also the various connotations it brings up about black stereotypes and black history.

 

It was really great to move this project onto it's next phase and I am loving every minute of it. I'm hoping to share some of the stories I collect in my upcoming posts and also how the outfit and fans progress. Until then get in touch with your own stories of black female fetishisation and stereotyping. Email gemma-parker@hotmail.co.uk with the title The Hidden Pin Up or find me on Facebook Gemma Parker Artist