Lady Godiva Sucks Oranges has been an ongoing endurance project looking at mob mentality as well as personal convictions and interaction with strangers (queer people in particular). Initially starting out as a performance where fruit was thrown at me, it has developed into a more public spectacle to see how far people will go to participate or refuse to do so. It started out in my Post Studio Projects class and looking at ideas of queer endurance, having to survive in public as well as micro aggressions. The title of this project plays on the phrase "Anita Bryant Sucks Oranges," the retort thrown at Christian singer and Florida Citrus spokesperson Anita Bryant who was well known for her "Save the Children" foundation and other anti-LGBTQQIA+ efforts. There is also the Legend of Lady Godiva, who rode nude on horseback through the city of Coventry in order to have remission of the harsh taxes placed upon her people. Unfortunately there are certain problems with me performing this piece nude on my campus, but perhaps in the future that will be a key part of the project.
In the few years since this project was conceived I have given greater thought to concepts of spectatorship, voyeurism, and the spectacle of self-sacrifice. The people of Coventry, out of respect for Lady Godiva, decided that they would not gaze upon the naked lady as she rode through town, shutting their windows and avoiding her gaze. However, there was one man, Thomas, who spied upon her. He bore a hole into the wooden shutter, and looked at Godiva as she rode past. For his disrespect and vice, the townspeople blinded him. This second part of the tale gives us the phrase "Peeping Tom" and adds another layer of exploration to the project. There is a certain attraction and public fascination with queer bodies (and other marginalized people for that matter). Oppressive structures have a fascination with marginalized people, for example, the commodification and objectification of black bodies through media (commercials, pornography, etc.), while simultaneously upholding structures designed to shame and suppress the voices and identities of said people. Therefore, as this project progresses, I will explore concepts of spying, attraction, and acts of love and intimacy in the face of the public, in spite of repression and rigid social/religious patriarchal and racist structures.
Below each video there is link to the blog post going into detail about particular performance.
In the few years since this project was conceived I have given greater thought to concepts of spectatorship, voyeurism, and the spectacle of self-sacrifice. The people of Coventry, out of respect for Lady Godiva, decided that they would not gaze upon the naked lady as she rode through town, shutting their windows and avoiding her gaze. However, there was one man, Thomas, who spied upon her. He bore a hole into the wooden shutter, and looked at Godiva as she rode past. For his disrespect and vice, the townspeople blinded him. This second part of the tale gives us the phrase "Peeping Tom" and adds another layer of exploration to the project. There is a certain attraction and public fascination with queer bodies (and other marginalized people for that matter). Oppressive structures have a fascination with marginalized people, for example, the commodification and objectification of black bodies through media (commercials, pornography, etc.), while simultaneously upholding structures designed to shame and suppress the voices and identities of said people. Therefore, as this project progresses, I will explore concepts of spying, attraction, and acts of love and intimacy in the face of the public, in spite of repression and rigid social/religious patriarchal and racist structures.
Below each video there is link to the blog post going into detail about particular performance.
