i got hungry for the hungry seas

Last week I went to the National Conference of Undergraduate Research to present a bunch of performance-based work I've made. I didn't have high expectations for it. Going to a mostly science-oriented research conference to present feminist performance art? Doesn't sound like my idea of a good time. But it went better than I had expected. Lots of traffic and interest expressed in my work, and only a few assholes arguing against the relevance and general value of it. I'm going to give you the "quick and dirty" of my presentation, as one very nerdy boy requested in what I'm sure he imagined was a sexy, seductive manner.

The three performance pieces I presented were, generally speaking, about Social Control Theory applied to Gender Theory. It's slightly different from the work I'm making now, but I'm certainly still interested in these topics. It acts as a nice segue between my two majors though (art and anthropology). And it's always great to go back to my "roots," so to speak. Performance Art was an important class for me, one where I tested my own physical limitations and dedication to art. It's greatly influenced the way I go about creating now. Here's my revised abstract that was part of my presentation:

Social Control and Sanction: A Bodily Exploration

According to Social Control Theory, the beliefs and actions of individuals are imposed by societal and political norms. Though such conventions are not formal laws, they are strictly reinforced by the threat of sanction if individuals should deviate. As a result, these norms standardize the members of a society and make it difficult for individuals to stray from the roles laid o

ut for them. In terms of gender, such regulation locks males and females into strict categories defining successful masculinity and femininity. Even if only followed subconsciously, these values oblige us to question our own positi

ons in society as well as the concept of free will. My artwork explores the effects of Social Control on an individual, personal level. In three performance-based projects, I test my own mental and physical capabilities as constructed by socially enforced expectations of gender, femininity, and sexuality. These pieces examine my own struggle and desire to desperately belong in this masochistic system while questioning its efficiency. In Eat Up, I explore the limits of expression by forcing myself to eat an excessive amount of wasabi and chopping onions, an act that yielded tears as an emotional prosthetic use

d to communicate with viewers. In Submerge (The Tank), I gave an oral history of social control while immersing my head in a tank of water, ultimately revealing my own pai

nful shortcomings with fitting into a gendered society. In We've Received Orders Not To Move, a three-person performance art work by Sefira Bell-Masterson, I wore an apron covered with open safety pins, kneeled in the center of a higher public space, and remained motionless for hours at a time. All three pieces are designed to cause considerable discomfort for both the performers and the viewers, forcing both to reexamin

e their roles as participants in a destructive system.

And don't I look thrilled there! More on this later, perhaps.