Hide and Seek

I've talked recently about "putting myself 'out' there" with such things as appearing on Trending on Shaw, and I took another step in wandering further down the "performance" road by signing up for a class in acting with masks: the white ones on the left were the ones we used the first day, and then added in the others on the right for the second.



To say the least, it was an interesting experience: taking off my glasses (a mask in and of themselves), putting on the mask (and sometimes a wig or a hat), looking in the mirror, and creating a character. Challenging emotionally at a few points, I never thought I'd survive actually being able to do a monologue on the afternoon of the second day, but I did. Learned a lot, and it's given me much to think about as I pursue future writing projects. We also had a visitor on Day 2: Caroline Russell-King, a local playright, who is interested in the use of the Guy Fawkes mask in political protests and wearing the niqab.

Since the class, which was over the Easter weekend, I've been thinking a lot about all the different "characters" encountered (mine and everyone else's), and coincidentally, Nathalie Atkinson wrote a great article about wearing sunglasses that appeared in last Saturday's Globe and Mail, and I've added Cool Shades: The History and Meaning of Sunglasses to my reading list for this year.



I've been a performative knitter for awhile -- here is an installation photograph from August 6, 2012, when I was installing spun/adrift -- and I assumed it would survive for a year and then disappear. Amazingly, it's still up!



It looks a bit battered, but given that it's survived three winters (two of them cold and snowy ones), I was really pleased with how it looked a week and a half ago. Not sure how much longer it will be there, as there may be some construction happening, and it is suspended by monofilament fishing line over the utility corridor between the owner's house and the access road.

Most of the degeneration has occurred in the lower two sections: the "earth" section drags on the ground and has been probably visited by squirrels and mice, while the "forest" section has been obviously visited by birds, looking to build nests with some of the yarns I've used.