#lydiagyurina
2020
A multimedia self portrait exploration spanning photography, 3D modeling, graphic design, sonic arts, performance, and poetry. This was my senior capstone for my degree in Kinetic Imaging at VCU – it gives you an idea of how expansive that program can be & what I spent my time doing in undergrad.
When my senior show was cancelled in person, several of the VCU departments came together and created the “Virtual Senior Show,” a 3D gallery experience that asked students, particularly those in installation, to re-imagine their shows in the 3D space.
I took my performance & sculptural piece (which was never created) and created a simple 3D model accompanied by a sound piece, a digital book, and a poem.
A project created after spending too much time looking at myself in the mirror.
Digital book created for #lydiagyurina. The book takes the “calling cards” that I created to hand out to visitors, and re-imagines them by having the cards perform the actions themselves.
#lydiagyurina (original poem to accompany this work)
Narcissus in a puddle too muddy
to see the pebbles/rocks/reality
sunken in the concrete sidewalk;
face hidden by sunglasses and a
yellow paper mask – it’s not yet
safe to bare yourself.
My body/self/soul was lost in a flood –
flooding of a village by an angry god
with a broken washing machine.
No casualties but inconsequential
losses – can’t remember when I
last ate an apple.
Unobserved cats in cardboard boxes
shrink with fear from a toddler/
child/spirit with a big stick,
parents away on summer vacation,
babysitter doing laundry.
Am I striking?
I ask the man I’ve commissioned
to paint my dog’s portrait.
Please look up the definition of ‘obfuscation’ for me.
Artist Statement
#lydiagyurina represents a confrontation with a grandiose and unwanted form of self. In the performative, sculptural, and conceptual work, I used self-portraiture and poetry to express a self-reflection which is equally self-worshipping and self-destructive. ‘Calling cards,’ which would have been woven into the sculpture surrounding the performance location, and are linked to in the digital version, direct its audience to do everything from walking home and back to thinking about entropy. Other cards direct the audience to leave them in places in the gallery or tear the cards apart. The focus is on connection and engagement rather than absurdity. The demands of these cards explore the power and vulnerability coveted by a narcissistic ego.
In the original performance, I would have sat and laid on a mattress atop a raised box, covering a stairway, in the Sponge Gallery of The Anderson at Virginia Commonwealth University. The plan was to be still, reacting only when addressed by others. My living form would have been mirrored by two large-scale photographic self-portraits, in the same outfit and position, on the same mattress. My presence presence as art implies a stubborn defense of my work, which often fails to be understood – here and open to questions, but also to watch as the constructed scenarios of her calling cards unfold.
The virtual rendition of #lydiagyurina re-constructs a gallery and her sculptural work in three dimensions, with a marked omission of the body and the uncertainty of live performance. The spotlight lighting suggests a shrine, and what would have been soft sculpture is replaced by an abstract form, using photographs from the original weavings as texture.
The calling cards compiled in the digital book below represent the 300 calling cards which would have been integrated into the sculpture of this work and directed the performance. In this iteration, they are re-configured according to their text, with a sense of humor and playfulness.