My Final Piece

I began building my box/cubicle recently, with help from Imogen Spurrell, which has been rather challenging. I measured and cut very large pieces of MDF wood to begin with, then glued frames for the screws and screwed them together. In a rush, I glued and screwed the wrong sides, having not noticed until after I had finished. However, this was easily fixed and it is now standing upright, ready to be painted.

I positioned the window hole (cut out with a jig-saw) so that the audience can only see the bottom of my face and my breasts, which will all be part of my performance as a sex object. I’m planning on ‘offering’ to show my large clay vagina for fake money that I’ll supply for the audience to participate in my performance.

Performance plan

• Dress up as a sex worker using online images of the Amsterdam Red Light District for reference
• Go live on my new instagram page and document the responses
• Print fake money for people to “pay” for what I perform – excessive amount for something like a smile and a small amount for me to perhaps hold up my clay vagina, etc. (the amount of fake money for gestures won’t make sense or match up to reflect the difference in sex workers’ pay in Amsterdam in contrast with Liverpool)
• Take pictures of the performance before assessment to show and make it a live performance for the final exhibition
• Maybe make is interactive in another way? Get friends to bang on the box while I’m inside to reflect the sex workers’ treatement

I began painting my box today, using a liquor black paint for the outside and crimson red for the inside to reflect the Red Light District. I found that the black wasn’t too intensely black, which went a lot better than a true black would against this crimson red, which worked well to reflect the night time atmosphere I wanted. The red is also a very deep and seductive colour, and the significance of red rooms is important for this piece. Red rooms online are dark, torture rooms, red from blood. In Jane Eyre, the colour red in her red room signifies the start of her menstruation, passion, anger, and violence. In recent literature, they’re used as sex rooms, using the colour’s connotations of passion. I will be using the connotations of anger and violence as a contrast, suing the red interiors as the safe place I’ll be stood where the audience can’t get to me, yet is clearly confrontational against the unfairness of sex workers rights in the UK.

I put up the neon lights, spelling out “sexwork is work” after thinking about the most powerful words I could put in contrast with the attractive lights. I believe it will certainly gain attention from the audience, shining a light on their importance. I also positioned the lights to be in the center of the window, making it all you see when I’m not inside.

I decided in the end to use the money idea to convey the absurdity of unfair sex work pay in Europe, using Amsterdam and Liverpool as references.

I also finished the box off by inserting the window, the door curtain and fabric for the roof, completing the box as a dark, enclosed space for my performance and lights.

Before the exhibition performance, I was able to take pictures of what I’ll be doing with a phone camera and a disposable camera, similar to what a tourist would do.