This
piece is designed to be an installation that is inaugurated
by the performance. An overhead camera records the performance;
this footage is then looped and played back through the
projector continuously, thus forming the fixed installation.
The viewer is presented with an image of the performance
shot from above, giving the impression that there is a
(virtual) cut-out in the floor and the performance is taking
place on the floor below. |
“Drag” serves
as a cathartic cleansing of the artist’s spiritual
and religious upbringing in Ireland. It takes the sexually
repressive doctrines that are central to the self-identity
of a ‘good Irish catholic’ and erases them,
replacing them with an image of non-repressive sexual ease.
While liberating himself from his catholic past, the artist
makes sure he retains his Irish identity by clutching his
Irish birth certificate throughout the process. While many
would argue that religious identity is synonymous with
national identity in Ireland, as exemplified by the sectarian
violence in Northern Ireland; the artist shows that a break
from this past is possible. |
