This is the video to the song What Now by the accomplished lady Rihanna, have a look at 2:52. This will be a continuation of what I've begun to write about before, namely harnesses, containment of the body and, to some extent, bondage, since those are quite linked. It sometimes feels like what I'm interested is divided into two quite opposite sets of ideas; either way, my friend gave me a leather belt, and I decided to dishevel it,
I'll come back to that belt.
Anyways, Rihanna. Here are some stills I took from the video:
The fingers and nails. Something quite grotesque about it. I recently watched Disturbia for the first time , and it was similarly strange to watch. Of course, very sexy and attractive and all that, and also bizarre and grotesque. Lady GaGa seems to use the same thing, there is some sort of balance there, perhaps something that came after Black Swan? Or before. It's nonetheless part of the same trend. And it's not grotesque in the way of The Conjuring, but in a sexy way, quite innocent. It's not weird when Rihanna twists her body strangely, contorts it, and sits in a corner twitching, it becomes a way for her to incorporate other references, perhaps appealing a little to another audience, and expand her image from just sexy, because she dares to be "disgusting" or "contorted" (of course, while wearing a see-through dress). Hmm, I don't know how relevant that is or what point I'm trying to make, but I'm trying to understand where my fascination comes from. How does that make beauty? How is it attractive, and why do I think it is?
Now, see, these are really interesting to me; I suppose it's mainly the movement, the act of falling backwards (there is something about it), that I'd like to do, or to use, in one way or another.
I like the contortions a lot. I think they're interesting movements, and it's fascinating to think about human bodies glitching or jarring, or there being something jarring about a movement that is unexpected or more mechanical than fluid and "human."
Where was I going with this...
Right, bondage and harnesses. I wrote a lot about it earlier, mainly because of a school project, but I didn't really finish my thoughts on it. I came back to it because of the belt my friend gave me, which now that I disheveled it, makes a nice sound when whipped around, very soft. It reminds me of this:
Full installation.
Detailed view.
It's a piece called Mr. Jung's Flower Shop, and I made it for a class. I didn't think much of it at the time, and I also wasn't very happy with it, but I am coming back to it. I mean:
Come on. It was made from crocheting fake sinew together, and I made some flowers. I originally wanted to make a whole suit out of it, that someone could wear, perhaps with bells on. I will come back to that.
So now that the belt is disheveled, I am trying to decide what to do with it. I thought it could be interesting to make little model costumes out of it, for tiny people, for example crocheting a sort of chain mail or lamellar armor or something of the sort... Updates to follow. Trying to gather my thoughts on this topic yet again will resume with the following blog posts.