Pleasure Palace North
2021, 25 min Video, 12’ diameter Steel Ring, Holographic Vinyl, 400 pressed and dried Daffodils
Pleasure Palace is a continuously evolving piece that has been in the back of my mind as something that I have known that I have wanted and knew I needed to do. It took me a long time to get here to this level of clarity but at least we got there. This piece explores the complex nature of identity as a universal concept, examining how identity develops and changes through time as a fluid thing. On a more specific level I want to bring up the politics of the body in relation to the feminine and the masculine as something that is intertwined, existing within a spectrum rather than within a system made up of binaries. Getting even deeper still, this work hopefully will exist as a framework for what could potentially constitute as queer architecture. Posing this as a place of potential, strength, and acceptance.
In the northern space a thin steel ring hangs from the ceiling with a diameter of twelve feet. From that ring hangs a length of semi-reflective holographic vinyl with a pattern resembling a wallpaper made of hand pressed and dried daffodil flowers that fully encloses the shape. From the bottom of the vinyl there is a distance of free space that is about knee length, making the height from floor to steel ring to be about half a foot over average human height. The diameter isn’t much smaller than the diameter of the room, providing the viewer about three to four feet to walk around, giving it a strong presence within the space. Projected over the ring is a video that spans the entire width of the wall that runs for around thirty minutes within a relatively seamless loop.
Pleasure Palace South
2021, 6 Various Length Looping Projected Video, Couch, Vinyl, Light, Terracotta, Plastic
While the north space focuses on the Diva and the performance of gender and identity, it dehumanizes me, the south gallery works to re-humanizes me. The variation of close ups, angles, and subject matter works together to show a raw side of humanity: human desires, human actions, and sexuality. The south space exists within the past and as a transition out of the present. There is an undeniable presence of a stasis and waiting by the lounging bodies, and the never ending tapping of stiletto nails. While this space lies mostly within the realm of the interior, the acknowledgement of the viewer through the audio as well as the moments of locking eyes with the camera searching for eye contact on the other side speaks to a desire to be seen, foreshadowing what is to come within the near future.