Costume Thyself Accordingly (rites of becoming under the stairs), Fine Art BA Degree Show, Loughborough University, Loughborough, 2025
Video Projection of the 'Ashen Fool'
Click a button below to explore each performance.
Not That One (a doppel for the fool)
Starring...The Ashen Fool
Dawdling in Mime II
Starring...Mimic Lollygagger
Puppet Parfum
Starring...Tawdry Foppish Lout
Artist Statement from SDCA Official Webpage:
"Costume Thyself Accordingly (rites of becoming under the stairs), is a live performance and installation work that reimagines a backstage dressing room beneath a staircase. The work merges video projection, photography, collage and transformed domestic objects to create an immersive, theatrical environment revolving around three distinct characters. Ultimately, the work explores the unstable relationship between performer and costume, inviting viewers into a world that is both uncomfortable and playful. Rather than resolving awkwardness, the installation lingers within it. Under the stairs becomes a fertile ground for vulnerability, humour and shifting identity.
Solo performances feature solitary characters who navigate rituals of dress-up and self-presentation, using masks, dolls and puppets to explore performative identity. Each character serves as a guise for the complex negotiations of the self. Costumes belonging to three characters are displayed within the space, occupying a space between prop and sculpture. The work draws on theatrical language and clichés, raising questions surrounding performativity once performance has ceased. Each character reappears in one of three live public performances throughout the exhibition, further unsettling the boundaries between actor and audience, spectacle and intimacy."
Images courtesy of Nyklaus Thorn
© Emily Hought