Silver Screen Shimmy (2009)

Silver Screen Shimmy, a two channel video piece, is a recording of live performance at the Galway Arts Festival as as part of MART's Open Door Policy

This saucy cabaret chick shows off her goods in Silkes shop window. Seduced by the lure of her black frills smalls and her red hot lips the viewer gets more than they bargained for.

Silver Screen Shimmy explores the screen as mirror and a slippery, elusive and distorting surface. This seeks to question modern forms of narcissistic display whilst still indulging the female subject's desire to razzle dazzle 'em.

The slippery surface of the screen starts to scupper her erotic performance, as if to communicates the danger of investment its shinny surface.As she slips down the screen she moves between erotic and wretched as she struggles to maintain what is left of the erotic pose. The female transcends from the classic narcissistic object to abject body, her desire to be looked at distorting her body through the contact with the screen.

The use of the dual screen contrasts the external spectacle with a more internal experience of the female performer. The two screens have a mirroring relationship to each other, their synchronicity materializing through the females movements. Yet an asymmetry between the two shots distances them, suggesting a mirror of misrecognition as well as narcissistic identification.