“Grew me up Green”, Mindy by Vahri McKenzie
The following is a poetic edit taken from an hour long Zoom Chat regarding a performance art piece, Colour me, Beautiful, as part of the Bunbury Biennale 2021, HE | SHE | THEY. We were provoked by the idea of participatory as a feminist practice. Participatory is more than interactive. As a method, it is intentional, planned, and full of techniques. The Zoom Chat is participatory and responsive. As a feminist participatory practice, Zoom Chatting requires introductions, engagement, a willingness to respond in ways that are not just scholarly, invitations that open-up and make room for thinking, and thanks. It is a feminist practice, and is an example of how to do a collective close reading.
09:02:58 Hi I’m ,from ECU on Whadjuk Noongar boodja. 09:03:08 Welcome everyone. 09:03:08 Kaurna land. 09:03:16 on Whadjuck Nyungar boodja 09:03:26 I am joining from Whadjuk Noongar boodja 09:03:26 I am on Whadjuk Noongar country in what is now known as Western Australia. 09:03:30 in Busselton WA 09:03:33 I’m distributed between Ngunnawal and Wardandi Country … 09:03:36 North Vancouver Canada! 09:03:37 I am zooming tonight from the traditional, unceded territories of the Algonquin Nation. 09:03:38 Canada 09:03:39 Whadjuk Noongar boodja, south perth 09:03:49 on Beeloo Noongar boodja today 09:03:55 joining from Ottawa Canada 09:04:00 South England UK 09:04:01 Borloo, Whadjuk Noongar Boodja 09:04:10 on Ngunnawal country, in the ACT. 09:04:15 South of England UK 09:04:15 Melbourne on the Wurundjeri 09:04:22 Joondalup. 09:05:03 zooming from Whadjuk Noongar boodjar 09:05:08 Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodja. 09:05:16 Canada 09:06:46 Colour full of smell and touch 09:08:41 “Grew me up green” 09:09:42 Green is the colour of revolution for some people. 09:10:08 difficulty of choosing just one colour-one thing 09:10:08 and some people were banned wearing it! 09:10:32 Eucalyptus green Jarrah, Red Gum the smell and touch. 09:11:04 colour is a language in itself hence the difficulty in reducing it to words 09:11:36 those greens have lots of connotations! 09:15:28 reminds me of experimenting with colour & children. I worked with a group of 4 year olds who created their own colour that they named, 'owned' and shared. Their parents were invited to do the same. 09:15:48 the disruptions that working with artists bring to research-creation 09:16:07 Trace of every conversation... 09:16:13 I love artists and researchers being in responsive conversation with each other - it adds a rich and unique element to the notion of what is possible, what new spaces can be opened. 09:16:19 I love that she is painting free hand. Detail is beautiful 09:17:28 colour as conversation - remnants pallet and brush. Frame the encounter as a portrait. 09:18:59 process, technique, and method 09:19:18 Belongs to a tradition of feminist performance art. 09:19:40 conceptual idea, not material object - process. 09:19:57 challenging the ideas of materiality 09:20:07 distributed authorship 09:20:16 What techniques inform: set ups, 09:20:21 collaboration, co-created, distributed authorship 09:20:38 Vahri’s technique: Delegated, distributed and durational 09:21:35 What it means to be prepared. Reclaiming delegation as a term of distributed authorship 09:22:26 how explicit do conversations around gender need to be? 09:22:46 Katherine Molines work on co-creation 09:22:56 Not expected to ‘represent’ gender 09:23:43 colour stories 09:24:18 Delegated ‘who’ the work is. Distributed‘where’the work is 09:25:07 Durational: keep repeating the processes. 09:25:37 constrained range of shapes 09:25:55 Providing the opportunity for people to encounter (and potentially re-encounter) the art as it evolves 09:26:19 where does agency sit between lead artist,artist participants? 09:26:30 Strict rules of mark making by lead artist - and how that slips and moves between delegates 09:27:06 arbitrary as against method 09:27:13 Trust as technique perhaps 09:27:16 guide towards practices that are ‘good enough’ 09:28:56 Close reading as a creative act 09:29:11 YES to a close reading as a creative act. 09:29:26 working within constraints/conventions of language & research 09:31:28 This really struck me in the reading: "At times, in retrospect, the process developed might seem like a method. But repeating it will never bring it back, for techniques must be reinvented at every turn and thought must always leap." Erin Manning 09:32:18 Quantum aesthetics… 09:33:08 I really appreciate your knowledge on this Vahri. It’s great to listen to you frame and position your work. 09:33:37 Like the ‘good enough’ approach 09:35:12 practice as unending 09:36:05 the tension between rules and experimentation… 09:36:07we are always in contradiction with/at odds with something 09:37:11 That intersection between experiment and public perception / rigour / outcomes is really interesting/challenging 09:37:15 limitations as exciting part 09:37:27 the tensions are where it all happens 09:38:26 rules = “invisible map” 09:39:27 delegates experienced training in technique in order to be responsive and break rules 09:41:39 social cultural context of individual identity politics/representation 09:43:20 https://www.facebook.com/VahriMcKenzie/ 09:48:12 these are some examples of feminist practices and what they DO, make happen and make possible 09:49:49 Interruptions is also a feminist practice 09:51:46 Processes and techniques…part of a tradition 09:51:54 commitment to sharing... 09:51:59 I wonder if the paints are washed away after each visitor or if there are any 'traces'... 09:52:11 Labour relations 09:53:12 What and how does a project INVITE 09:53:31 the 'work' is the process not just the deliverable on the wall speaks to a feminist approach to the idea of work 09:54:05 Distributing…co-authorship…interpretations…generative… 09:54:23 sharing is women's work 09:55:01 personal as a political distribution 09:55:10 listening in real time 09:55:15 story-telling and story-listening... emotion + words 09:55:36 Situated knowledges 09:55:50 Turning up the colour of lived experiences 09:55:53 Making it public 09:56:08 Talking with instead of talking at 09:57:05 are the chosen shapes political? 09:57:29 There's something there for me (in the context of teaching a unit on feminist leadership) in the method as feminist: the distribution of power (of the artist/expression), the making visible of the constraints of agency of the artist (ideas of agency as contextual/relational) 09:58:12 the thinking is in the doing of the piece 09:58:12 The work is not the mural - the work is more-than- it lives in process, experience, intimacy, pleasure, attention 09:58:19 freedom, pleasure, intimacy in the experience. 09:58:42 The mural is a 'visual trace' of the interactive experience between artist and participant 09:58:43 The choice of the artist - taking the colour away from the participant. What does this say about agency? 09:59:10 More than one way 09:59:29 The exchange as a feminist practice. 10:00:06 Identity as iterative, not fixed. 10:00:10 colour is emotional 10:00:11 A partial snapshot. 10:00:56 I loved the live practice as a springboard 10:01:08 colour as now 10:01:24 Towards modes of mattering and patterns of relationality… 10:01:34 Grappling with the practices and constantly exchanging the ideas is feminist practices 10:01:38 Colouring the present 10:02:45 if the work is the process, then the people that describe the colours are workers of that work.are the workers describing colours recognized as artists of this artwork? 10:03:16 Interesting question about more-than-human participation 10:03:30 Thanks Vahri 10:03:36 Thanks :)
(This entry was co-authored by The Ediths: Mindy Blaise, Jo Pollitt, and Jane Merewether. Inspired by the presentation by Dr. Vahri McKenzie at the Ediths Roundtable Series 2021)