http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifWatch Petrine Archer-Straw's interview with Ebony Patterson
Interview by Nikki-Ann Chambers
What inspired you to do this piece?
The kind of hypocrisy that is evident in our Jamaican culture. We “bun out” “batty man” which is seen as a kind of feminist thing yet the real men and the “ganstas” dress better than women, wear questionable women clothes, bleach [which used to be a woman ting] and pretty up more than most women today. However the work is not about homosexuality but an exploration of a shift in masculity , and the contradictions of what was once the anti-mocho. The feminity is now reshaping the masculine
How do you see this room and what is the story of this room?
I Use and see the room as a faux feminine, really questioning what masculinity is, our ideas about beauty and the grotesque and how that all ties in with stereotypes and our perceptions, a culture and a people.
What relation do the tampons have to the general piece?
I refer to them as the “pussy bulletz” and I wanted to use something that was obviously feminine to juxtapose with the homosexual serotypes that I created with these photographic images. What is really interesting is the shape of the tampons and how they resemble and echo the shape of a bullet.
What relation do the men have within the piece?
I use young men within a particular age group as they represent a demographic involved in the practice. Unlike persons in the the 1990’s that did this for social mobility , these young men are not bleaching and going up-town in suites to look for jobs. They are on the corners and getting involved inillegitimate activities but at the same time it seems that a faux feminine that is beginning to immerge from their appearance. This juxtapose with objects that are obliviously feminine and liking that to “gansta culture,” an aspiration and gratification of the “gansta”.
Does the colour of the wall plays a divider or a link between what is masculine and what is feminine?
Red can be seen as a neutral colour of the sexes. I chose it and if u realize is not “red red” but more of a pinkish red. I did this to play on the whole concept of how the men are bordering the line between masculinity and femininity.
-The original post has been edited to accommodate requests by the artist, Ebony G. Patterson
Posts
