Once again, it is a novelty experience to go to a physical exhibition. No other exhibition could have been more appropriate than Daniel Lismore’s “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken” (what a title!). The focus in the exhibition is on the body, more precisely on Daniel’s body as an artwork, but the bodily experience relates also to the visitors moving in the exhibition space with other bodies, the feeling of proximity, the random encounter, a frown in someone’s face, the smile in another, the overhearing of a comment. This is what makes people connect, and more importantly, this is what makes meaning. It helps you form your own view by being immersed in snippets of other visitors’ experiences alongside your own. It is a sort of community I experienced when I visited Daniel’s exhibition, however fleeting this experience may have been. I was part of a ‘community of interest’. This community membership really crystallised by visiting a physical show.
I was stunned by the intricate detail of Daniel’s dresses. There was a lot of armour, a lot of glitz, and a lot of stuff. In most dresses, the body was entirely covered except for the eyes. You could really feel the richness and tensions Daniel weirs on the outside, but which probably reflects a lot of what goes on in the inside. Daniel mentions in this TED talk, “I don’t like my body, so I cover it”. I am sure many of us can empathise with this sentiment. Have you ever noticed that when you catch a glimpse of yourself from the back, you may not even recognise yourself? I think we have a very two-dimensional, flat view of ourselves. But in Daniels dresses you see the whole three-dimensional person. Details are not confined to the front of the dress, which strikes me as a differentiator of his artwork to a simple or not so simple dress-up. “I am not a drag queen; I am a living sculpture” underpins this position.
I was absolutely stunned by the costumes for the Harrison Birtwistle’s opera: The Mask of Orpheus.
It is really worth listening to Daniel’s TED talk and check out his website https://www.daniellismore.com/about
We probably accept that the clothes we wear show who we are and where we belong, but Daniel Lismore certainly elevates this to a different level. This reminds me of a short book chapter I wrote nearly 10 years ago entitled Wear Your Skills on Your Shirt. It acknowledges that collaboration between learners at the distance is dependent on participants indicating their skill set. Learners do this online by choosing a particular photo or drawing of themselves as an avatar, or something that represents them in a particular style and often with finesse. This indicates to others not just who they are, but also what they are skilled at and interested in. Maybe we can all be a bit more Daniel when we represent ourselves online to help us find our shared interests beyond what we may say in words? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to curate a collection of virtual stuff that interests you and show aspects of this to those you encounter online, peers or tutors, or friends and family, and dare I say, future employers?
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