The Hidden Pin Up #26 - Yaaaas Bitch!

I've been getting work ready for The Hidden Pin Up's next outing taking place as part of the Sexuality Summer School 23rd May at the University of Manchester. 

The school is a five day event that discusses and debates queer and feminist sexuality studies bringing together researchers, international scholars, filmmakers and artists and I'm really thrilled that we are taking part in this year's programme.

The performance is taking place in the magnificent Victorian Samuel Alexander building which epitomises historic western ideals of beauty with it's neo-classical columns and sweeping architecture. I cannot wait to see our dancer and spoken word artist perform against this backdrop highlighting centuries of stereotypes and misconceptions of just what beauty can be.

I recently came across this brilliant short video made by BBC 3 and in this film alone we revisit ALL the preconceived ideas and fetishes attributed to women of colour that have already been touched on in my research for The Hidden Pin Up. The comments on this video in themselves are an education!

Taking this as a cue I have been adding new embroidered feathers to the hessian burlesque fans that Lenai from the House Of Ghetto will be dancing with. The fans already hold a number of embroidered true stories collected from women of colour about their experiences of stereotyping and marginalisation and soon one fan will be filled. Here's just a few of the new embroideries so far,

Myself and Darren Pritchard, the project's choreographer, dancer Lenai Russell and spoken word performer Justina Aina will be staying after the performance next Thursday to chat to audience members about the work and give you a chance to see the fans and related Hidden Pin Up artwork up close. 

The performance is free to attend and begins 7.15pm. I recommend you arrive earlier to avoid missing anything and grab a good spot. Hope to see you there!

The Hidden Pin Up #25 - Push Festival 2019

 Photo by Chris Payne

Happy new year everyone! The Hidden Pin Up began 2019 with a bang taking part in Push Festival at HOME Manchester this weekend just gone!

Push Festival is an annual celebration of the North West's creative talents, showcasing two weeks of exhibitions, events and screenings and we were thrilled to present our performance of burlesque/vogue/spoken word as part of the launch night to kick the whole thing off.

The Hidden Pin Up is a collaborative art project between myself and Manchester vogue house the House of Ghetto, an all female black dance troupe headed by house mother and choreographer Darren Pritchard. The work explores the history of the hidden and forgotten figure of the black pin up girl and investigates the legacy of stereotypes and racial fetishisation that still plagues women of colour today. You can read how the project developed by scrolling back through this very blog for The Hidden Pin Up posts numbered 1-25.

The launch night was fantastic, with many other artists taking to the stage in the gallery to recite poetry, sing and introduce their work to come over the festival. The Hidden Pin Up finished the evening, taking the audience by surprise when Lenai Russell our fabulous dancer appeared amidst them as the notes Miss Celie's Blue's filled the air.

Photo by Chris Payne

Lulled into a happy fuzz by free wine the audience watched the first half of the performance, which takes the form of a traditional fan dance, with big smiles on their faces and many whoops and cheers. I think the nuance and meaning of the work might have been lost on them until Justina Aina our spoken word artist swooped in and really shook things up.

Her delivery of the inappropriate and thoughtless phrases aimed at women of colour which were layered over Lenai's graceful vouging created a disconnect that demanded attention. I'm pleased to say that we got our desired effect and the piece was met with much positivity.

Photo by Chris Payne

 Sunday saw us delivering the performance again on an hourly basis in the gallery with an additional opportunity to view the fans and costume in detail and chat to us about the work afterwards.

With high numbers of attendees, it was really nice to see so many people want to find out more and share their own experiences. The words used in the performance and embroidered into the fans were a great opener to discussions about sexism and racial slurs and where the topic stands in 2019. We also had some lovely feedback from reviewers on twitter:

Push Festival 2019 was a brilliant experience for us and thanks again to HOME for the opportunity! We have plans to take The Hidden Pin Up further so watch this space! Until then, to find out more and see extra check out my Instagram and also treat yourself to a limited edition Hidden Pin Up badge or art work from my SHOP.

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 #23 - THIS SATURDAY!

 

This Saturday 22nd September sees the debut performance of Hidden Pin Up at The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester! Myself and fellow collaborators the House of Ghetto are so excited to get this work up and running! The day will consist of performances every hour on the hour 11am - 3pm and these will be interspersed with two workshops that tie in with the gallery's wallpaper exhibition Bodies of Colour. 

The Hidden Pin Up looks at the fetishization of the black female body by investigating the hidden history of the black pin up girl and the legacy of racial stereotypes still found in modern day life. Taking inspiration from the traditional burlesque fan dance with a House of Ghetto twist, this site specific dance and spoken word vignette is political with some added phunk.

The Repeating Patterns workshops are a chance to create a collage wallpaper design and put your own spin on ideas of racial and cultural stereotypes using design tropes found within the Bodies of Colour exhibition.

Times run as follows:

Saturday 22 September, 11am - 3.10pm

All events are free, drop in, no need to book

Performance times:

11am – 11.10am
12pm – 12.10pm
1pm – 1.10pm
2pm – 2.10pm
3pm – 3.10pm

Workshop times:

11.15am – 12pm
1.15pm – 2pm

Hope you can make it!

Keep up to date with the project's progress on this blog and by following me on Instagram @gemma_parker_artist

The Hidden Pin Up #22 - Bodies of Colour

There's been a lot going on between this blog post and the last as The Hidden Pin Up now has a date and venue for it's debut performance! Put Saturday 22nd September in your diaries!

We have been in talks with the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester and are currently working on the order of a day which will include hourly performances with wrap around activities which we are still formulating. So far we are thinking about debates, possible workshops, leaving a legacy and asking other artists to respond to the work.

The Whitworth is housing a new exhibition called Bodies of Colour which ties in perfectly with the themes and ideas which The Hidden Pin Up addresses and will be a great focal point to perform the piece in. With the tag line 'Breaking with stereotypes in the wallpaper collection', the exhibition deals with difficult questions and complex histories surrounding cultural identities and systemic racism as described in the words and images found in the decorative wallpapers on display. 

Some of the pieces date back to the 1800's such as a wallpaper picturing scenes from Uncle Tom's Cabin produced in Manchester in support of the anti slavery movement, Uncle Tom being a stereotypical shorthand for subservience.

Even the most innocent subject carried deeper meaning such as the 1933 Mickey Mouse wallpaper, which was manufactured around the time Mickey Mouse was 'blacking up' in a cartoon version of Uncle Tom. It interested me to note the visual formula for Mickey and his early pals copied the tropes used by black and white minstrels with their white gloves and highlighted mouths.

Other recent pieces produced by artists tackle the exhibition's theme with a jarring blend of both decorative and disturbing such as Robert Gober's 1989 work, Hanging Man/ Sleeping Man. The repeating pattern tells us much of racism in America while the sleeping white man is blissful in his (chosen) ignorance to it.

Wandering around the exhibition I was really impressed with how well it put across the fact that we live with these messages as repetitive backdrops to our lives in much the same way the micro aggressions aimed at women of colour form the work behind The Hidden Pin Up, 

The decorative aspect of the wallpaper somehow manages to make the negative ideology much more acceptable, it almost hides it! Similarly many mirco aggressions are framed in a complementary or repetative way that allow them to go unnoticed by some.

I am so excited to work closely with the exhibition and allow The Hidden Pin Up to add extra context and discussion to the project. Much more to follow as we set our plans in motion . I'll be posting about them as things take shape!

The Hidden Pin Up #21 - Choreography part 2

In mid May we had scheduled a trial performance of The Hidden Pin Up at a venue in Manchester, which for reasons beyond our control had to be cancelled. It was a bit of a blow but rehearsing in situ and developing the performance to a near finished version gave everyone a chance to see our collective ideas weave together.

Lenai, our fantastic dancer from Manchester's House Of Ghetto (HOG), did sterling work picking up where we'd left off from our first choreography session a few weeks back. For the trial performance we wanted to use a staircase as the stage area as this was to be an intervention, treating the audience to an unexpected experience from their viewpoint gathered at the stairs base.

Using our chosen song of Miss Celie's Blues for the first half it took Lenai no time to adjust to the diagonal ground of the stairs while using the hessian fans to recreate a traditional fan dance. The results were stunning as the stairs lent an air of magic to the piece, literally letting Lenai appear far above our heads with natural light shining behind her and through the fans. As she made her way down the steps instinctively matching her moves to the words and breaks in the song, both myself and HOG choreographer Darren Pritchard, knew that this was going to be a very strong piece.

 

 Once Lenai was on a level with the audience our idea to flip the script and introduce a modern Vogue beat for the second half of the performance took shape. This was especially exciting for me as I was intrigued to see how the very different moves of Vogue dancing would fit the piece and I was not disappointed. As a professional dancer with a strong Vogue background Lenai added a sophisticated sensuality that matched the fluid movements of the burlesque section to perfection.

Our plan was to have live vocals performed by Justina Aina the fab singer who we recently worked with to create our own Vogue track for the piece. Her confrontational use of the words I have stitched into the fans would have juxtaposed brilliantly with Lenai's graceful ascent back up the stairs, eventually to disappear like a dream that once was. Unfortunately we never got to try this out but from the groundwork already done, both Darren and I know this would be a powerful blend that would leave a lasting impression on the audience. As we progress on this project there will be much more to come so watch this space!

The Hidden Pin Up #20 - Taking the Mic!

Friday was a very exciting day where The Hidden Pin Up got taken to the next level via song and spoken word as we spent the morning recording our very own vogue track!

Since we have the first half of the fan dance performance mapped out to a chosen song that evokes the bluesy burlesque of the vintage era (see this past post for details), it was important that the second half was just as strong yet gave our dancer the chance to move and tell her story in a totally different way.

Myself and co collaborator Darren (house mother of the House of Ghetto) decided to go down a vogue route as that is something the House of Ghetto are especially famous for and can be tailored, much like burlesque, to convey whatever message you want. 

With his strong knowledge of dance and music Darren suggested using the words from the feathers on the burlesque fans as direct inspiration to create our own customised track. Cue the arrival of talented performer Justina Aina (check her out, she's great!) who came with us to the Salford's Lowry Theatre to record some samples that will be laid over music.

It was fascinating to see how Justine worked. Having already been given the full set of stories from the fans, she had put them into sections and created a poetical arrangement that could be broken down, repeated, spoken and sang.

With technical manager David Wimpenny on the sound desk (he really knows his stuff and is a technical wizard, thanks so much Dave!) we were able to record several layers including, repeats of lines, whispered paragraphs and free-styled sections.

The next step will be putting everything together and creating the finished track, however we will be having a trial run of the performance including the fan dance and live vocals later this month, more info to follow!

Here's a sample of Justina's freestyling over a track, this wasn't recorded for our final piece but gave everyone an idea of how the live vocals could work. Hearing the stories put together in this context is both uncomfortable and funny. I'm loving how this is turning out and I am looking forward to sharing the finished thing with you!

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 #18 - Choreography part 1

On Friday we finally got to visit a dance studio to begin choreographing the routine for The Hidden Pin Up!

I met with Lenai the dancer from Manchester's House of Ghetto and Darren Pritchard, the house mother and choreographer, and all three of us were raring to go! I was really keen to see how my hessian burlesque fans would perform and also excited to put our ideas together. After researching and working on this concept for a year, it was thrilling to see it come to life and put some meat on the bones!

The performance is based on a traditional fan dance and anyone who has been following this project for a while will know that using fans was inspired by my research into vintage exotic dancer Jean Idelle who was one of the most successful black burlesque performers of the 1950's. You can find out more about Jean HERE

The aim of a fan dance is to tease the audience by only showing hints of bare flesh as the fans move around the dancer's body. It's important to captivate the audience with the fans movements so they highlight poise and footwork and emphasize what the dancer does with her arms and legs. It's usually the last third of the performance where the dancer does a 'reveal' and their full figure can be seen.

Darren was fantastic at giving direction and using traditional fan dance moves mixed with some of the vogue moves he is famous for. We even came up with some new moves I've never seen before. I was especially impressed with Lenai, who has never done any fan work before but picked up the skill almost immediately! 

It was exciting to see the fans in action. I was interested to know how they would perform as they are made from hessian instead of the soft floaty feathers usually used in burlesque. It turned out they had a grass skirt/ dried grass movement that I loved as they reinforced the 'primitive' character the project calls into question. They did shed fibres like crazy but there was something satisfying in watching the hemp fly around Lenai as she shimmied and turned.

It literally gave me shivers to see the dance performed to music. We wanted a song that not only hit the vintage mark but also spoke of women of colour and strength over adversity, for while this work plays on stereotypes and fetishes built around women of colour, it also puts the agency entirely in the dancer's hands and invites the viewer to look past the cliches. The piece we chose was Miss Celie's Blues from the soundtrack of The Colour Purple. Here's a little taster:

The full first half of the routine is now mapped out and we were all really excited by how much we got done. It was a fun morning and I can't wait to work on the second half which will have a a totally different feel and energy.