JOURNAL EXTRACTS

Information on the journals

I have been keeping journals before I started as a Phd candidate, it seemed natural to continue writing them, especially when I have been travelling to live art performance festivals in Europe. The journals have become part of my methodology, also they became a really important communication tool. Every time I wrote the journal I sent a copy to my first supervisor, not to comment on, but to show the journey that I have been on. It is in these journals, I have recorded my development, and began integrating academia within my writing. The other function the journals took on, was it was a way to improve my writing, and my understanding of my writing.

I was diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia, and the journals became a way to explore how to record information, as well as how to access academic information. Since I was not being judged on them, I never edited them, they are a source of documentation, allowing me the freedom to explore my thoughts, and to take risks in writing. I feel the journals became an important part of my relationship with my first supervisor as she gained a direct insight into my development throughout the years of researching. They are now part of my hybrid archives.

Transcript of live interview with the actor George MacKay on performing animal in the film Wolf 2020. Olympic Cinema Barnes Southwest London. Organized by the Barnes Film Festival.

Q&A after the showing of Wolf in Conversation with George Mackay

Interviewer:                Charlotte Bogard Macloed

Venue: Olympic Cinema Church Road Barnes Sw13

Date: 10.04.2022

Transcribed by: Spike Mclarrity PhD Candidate Kingston University

Film title: Wolf

Running Time: 90 mins

Director: Nathalie Biancheri

Producers: Jessie Fisk, Jane Doolan, Mariusz Wlodarski and Agnieszka WasiakMain Cast: George MacKay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine, Eileen WalshLocation(s): Deerpark, Howth

Script: Nathalie Biancheri Production Companies: Feline Films, Lava Films

Transcript from live stream on Instagram: Barnes Film Festival https://www.instagram.com/p/CcLs8M8OX2l/
I was in the audience and had the opportunity to ask a question in relation to my research. (The rabbit hole as Metaphor)

Notes:
In transcribing I had to make some editorial decisions to edit some of the filler words within the interview, that would not make sense when typed, nor would it translate from a live encounter to a transcript. In parts of the interview where I could not really make out what George or Charlotte was saying I referred to as inaudible. However, I have tried to stay as honest and as accurate as possible to the actual interview at the Olympic Cinema. For reference I have indicated by the initials where in the interview you can find the time frame within the recording on Barnes Film Festival Instagram.

Two seats were set up in front of the screen, curtains drawn, a projection of the Olympic Studios projected on to the curtains. As Charlotte sat down some of her A4 sheets of paper fell on to the stage, George leapt of his stool and gathered them up, then handed them back to Charlotte. Before Charlotte began the conversation with George about his performance in Wolf, a member of the audience from Korea brought a black piece of card with gold writing on it. Natalie notices it and goes to the member of the audience and takes it, Audience laughs at George’s comment, then hands it back to collect it later, and sits back on his stool.

C.B.M: 0.00    Join us in June the dates are 16th to the 22nd of June, we’re here in the delicious Olympic cinema so thank you to them, thank you to you all for coming, and I want to thank people who have come from far and wide. (Charlotte looks at the audience) “So there’s a little note here, which says, I will just get up” (She slides off her stool and takes the card from the audience.) “I will get George to read this out” hands it to George.

G.MCK: 0.29 It is from Korea, Thank you very, very much. (Audience laugh)

C.B.M: 0.32    I think a round of applause for anyone who made it further than Barnes. (Audience clap) “got somebody from East London here at the back”

G.MCK: 0.41 George takes the card “wow” laughs takes microphone “legs are longer than my (inaudible)” stretches out his right leg, laughs. “Thank you very much” (audience laugh.) “Thank you very much”

C.B.M: 0.53    I think that we will come back to that later. (Laughs)

G.MCK: 0.54 George gets up and hands it back to the audience. “We will keep this here and pick it up later thank you very much”

C.B.M: 0.57    So, ok, I want to jump straight in George and say, talk me through the moment where the script landed on your desk from Nathalie Biancheri and you thought “hmmm, what did you think?”

G.MCK: 1.09 I absolutely loved this script when I first read it, and I just thought of the fundamental premise and the sort of impossibility of it was just so rich as an opportunity to play a character, this man that, even trying to say it in a sentence, is he a wolf or does he feel he is a Wolf? and just this question of identity and what makes a person, as to who you feel you are inside or what you or so in greater context telling you who you are, I think is such a pertinent question that is being revaluated constantly and particularly at the minute, who you are being a question of perception or your own interpretation or your physicality all of these things is something to explore I think, and so this script explores that so beautifully with this premise of being a Wolf and not just again like a kind of a aesthetic kind of identity question, but more about the deeper instinct in people as well and this question nature verses nurture, and what is human nature and what is animal nature, are we not just animals ourselves? at what point these boundaries cross over and become something else, so it was that, and then simultaneously when the script came in there was a wonderful notebook that gave Natalie’s idea for the film, and she also expressed that we will be working with Terry Notary who is this incredible movement coach, who I don’t know if anyone who has seen the film the square?

C.B.M: 2.46    Has anyone seen the Square?

G.MCK: 2.48 There is a scene in it where is set in an art gallery and this performance artist who is a performance artist who he is an ape, joins a sort of rather swanky dinner and he won’t stop being an ape and it becomes this incredible really intimidating scene, and I remember watching that and just being like this is incredible, and it was an inspiration on committing to something quite out there, and how sort of dramatic that can be, and so to work…”

C.B.M: 3.12    “He also worked on planet of the Apes...”

G.MCK: 3.14 “Yeah, yeah”

C.B.M: 3.15    “He is the man that transgresses those bounds, boundaries of humanity and animal.”

G.MCK: 3.22 “Yeah, he’s got this amazing background that he was a near Olympic gymnast and then did a lot of work with circus ole, and then found his way into all this animal work, particularly and physical work, and yeah we had this incredible time at the beginning… at the beginning of the rehearsal period there was myself, Natalie and Terry in Dublin, the film was an Irish film, we had a week in Dublin to workshop the wolf and to play around… basically, and the first, before we got to anything tangibly wolfish, the question that he would pose was what is it to be animal?
What defines a human?
What defines an animal outside physicality?
The kind of thing that we set upon was, and again even that as a human interpretation is sort of existing via your thoughts, or your guttural instincts because we are all so socialised, often times for the better you know, because we don’t live in the animal kingdom, everyone, it is not as, you know, thankfully perhaps we are living in the wild, but that said, at what point do your thoughts dictate everything and Terry did a lot of work on basically removing thought, and a lot of really simple and physical exercise and mental exercise to get to that ephemeral place of being without thought and sort of sounds difficult to describe but it is sort of extraordinary when your, when the brain turns off and even the difference between sitting there going, I am meditating, I have a very few thoughts or a singular thought when thoughts go, it feels incredible, and I didn’t realize how much I existed in my head until those sessions, and even before being about Jacob identifying as a wolf, I thought that, that sort of zen moment is something that is going to be a life pursuit to get that, sort of mind quiet.”

C.B.M: 5.18    “can you still, can you still attain that…. space?”

G.MCK: 5.21 “To be honest, I think, it’s that sort of that silly thing, when you find something feels really good, but you kind of think that I am a bit busy today, you don’t justify it unless there is the pursuit of this character, which is completely counter intuitive but you know, you find reasons to focus on all the bits and bobs you need to do in a day, otherwise, but that and Natalie our director said that she got Terry to do these similar exercises on her so she could experience what we’re feeling…or I was meant to feel and trying to get to and again it is such an ephemeral thing, I remember watching Natalie, she got to this place, where you would sit there, it is hard to describe essentially sitting there most of the time, then he would go “that’s it, I know what you are thinking, that’s it, I know what you are thinking” I saw it with Natalie where there was this point that nothing about her expression changed, but it was like her whole being was open and it was like this really powerful, the whole temperature of the room changed and nothing changed and it was like suddenly she became animal and also that thing of when you are in that zone and you are looking at someone there is that thing that animals do, we went to see wolves and I think it’s true of many animals, where there a sort of…. There’s no self-consciousness, and that I think in human terms I associate that with a kind of arrogance, because self-consciousness to be without that you have to be confident to be really without that you have to be super confident, which might become arrogance and its not that at all, it’s just a genuine… genuine…. not being fussed at all what someone may think of you, and to hold someone’s gaze, really not needing anything from them…. is quite… it makes your gaze quite powerful and I think that’s something we thought “that’s the wolf” you know, before we got to the crawling or the more aesthetics of aspects of his being.

C.B.M: 7.26    I remember you telling me about working with Lillia’s depth on that physicality in terms of a mutual attraction based entirely on the animal feelings rather than mental feeling, can you talk us through that process.

G.MCK: 7.43 “Yeah… there’s a scene where we were in our animal states on the roof… we had this week of rehearsals and then the lockdown happened, covid at its very beginning hit in the UK and Ireland, and so the film got pushed back by months and despite the seriousness of the pandemic actually those months in the terms of the film really helped embed what we found in that first five days, and the plan was then to have two weeks off and go into three weeks rehearsals of the shoot, that two weeks became four months, so when we came back we had that same three weeks and that’s when I worked a lot with Lilly and to explore our characters we sort of used that scene, which in the script it was just Jacob and the wild cat play on the roof, and that was just it, in finding what we thought what that scene could be that was the basis of our rehearsals to then explore the characters relationships and what that might be…

and that was a mixture of… almost meditative…or intimacy exercises, then it was the case of not being self-conscious as like having a go as animals and then there was different things that Terry and Natalie would do to the exercises where you should get that three dimensional awareness, really simple tasks, “like ok, move around each other in your animal state and always one must be looking at the other, but you can never be looking at each other at the same time,” so does that immediately hyper aware listening with your back in a way that you weren’t aware of before because you… (inaudible) “she’s looking… actually I can look at her” that suddenly gave something and made the scene alive, and again it gives you the sense of how these people have (inaudible) for me I think Jacob is a wolf, that doesn’t mean he exists on all fours all the time, that is how he sees the world, is this constant peripheral vision… even like…. Jumping away from the initial question, that is what was so interesting about the character…

Once I was researching wolfs in the more literal sense, they smell and hear before they see, in the terms of the hierarchy of their senses, how interesting if you had a human body, but your ears and your nose were better than your sight and how would we interact right now, I would probably be thinking about your perfume more than I am the conversation because that is what I am taking in and what that would do to make him as a man, because it would make him disengage in a lot of conversations because he is smelling your perfume, but trying not to because he is socialised to know that’s not what you are allowed to do, just that constant contradiction in oneself I thought was really fascinating.”

C.B.M: 10.37 “You talked before about what that did then for the language of the script so in the terms of stripping back some of your dialogue and becoming nonverbal.”

G.MCK:10.50 “Natalie wrote the most beautiful script, which was the spine of everything, it developed even when we were filming, the more we discovered the characters we were shooting, initially in the script, hope Natalie doesn’t mind me saying but probably, up until the day of filming, it’s probably almost the most that Jacob spoke, was that scene where they… I don’t want to give too much away if anyone is tuning in and hasn’t seen it…

But there is the final scene of the film, there is much more where he was able to explain himself because they were at where they were at in their relationship, we got to that stage where they were at where they were at because he was becoming animal and he was committing to this animal nature, therefor I don’t think he has language in the same way, I think he is moving away from that, it was the day of filming when we went he can’t talk, he can’t say all this stuff, if we are being true and holding the integrity of the character I think there is all these all other times where in the cage as well and in other scenes, we just ended going at this stage he just howls.

I think words are not his first language at this point, and it was really interesting that Natalie committed to that on the day… I was like… yeah that makes sense so let’s make sense of that… so it makes the film perhaps a little less… mmm… sort of tangible… understandable at certain points, but I think it holds the integrity of the characters and the intent of the story.”

C.B.M: 12.26 “I wanted to talk to you about the howling and diaries, I am also hyper aware that people have come from far and wide, and so will probably want to ask questions, so prepare your questions as I don’t want to hog all the questions and I will repeat them for people who aren’t in the room. I know that you had real wolves on set and talked to them… right!”

G.MCK: 2.50 “We couldn’t get a real wolf in that scene, so we had dogs that kind of looked like wolves, and they wouldn’t howl, and the day where the scene there is a howl and there’s this connection the two dog actors weren’t feeling the howl that day, we had a very optimistic husky who was the understudy, I think who was too buoyant for that scene, then there was the wolf bit you see on screen, I got there with the howl, but there was a lot of that scene where we were gazing at each other intensely, howling at it, at this point I felt that I should have a real connection with the wolf, which apparently I didn’t.”

C.B.M: 13.40 “You put meat in your mouth, is that right?”

G.MCK: 3.44 “(inaudible) bits of steak, which the trainers were using, I wanted to do everything myself, and wanted to have a go, let me have a go, so I had this steak in my mouth during this scene, therefor my back was to the camera, a bit of meat hanging. (Simulates the sound of a wolf) (inaudible) so that’s a wee bit of post-production to help that scene.”

C.B.M: 14.09 “I actually believed that you got the wolf to howl cos you were so method, so in character, that the wolf was communicating with you, but maybe we should change the story.”

G.MK: 14.19   “I think that egoistically I think I thought that I was at this stage then I wasn’t.”

C.B.M: 14.25 “but you did keep a wolf diary am I right?”

G.MKY:14.28 “yes… actually that was more in lockdown once when we had suddenly forded this portion of time as part of the way that Natalie and I kept on working at it… I use to write diary entries as Jacob she would get me subjects to write on, like really interesting things like once she posed the question, as we had done all this back story stuff, as he is such a silent character, that it was important, that there was a lot of times where in scenes he just goes into his own world, I felt like I needed to have a world to go into, so we built all of this stuff, certain things and certain scenes which were important he had to come away to bring in the film… to a… I guess… time wise simply…

There were more scenes with his parents and we had the whole reasons, as to what was the incident that put him in this place and what was this transgression that for everyone was too far, we had a whole world of that, and I remember Natalie saying “actually why don’t you write one twenty years beyond the end of the film where do you think he is at? what is the reality of that?” because then you can always think genuinely about…

OK, what am I letting go off? Because I think that’s another thing that is beautiful about the film is about being true to who you are and owning that, and being that fully, but also accepting… that might mean you have to leave certain situations that also keeping ties…. so we wrote this diary, actually the diary would develop while I was practicing the crawl and so the scene that Jacob has his diary read to him, that was an amalgamation of Natalie’s script and a number of diaries entries that I wrote as Jacob, because of all the short comings of going “ yea, my bum doesn’t feel in the right place, my shoulders hurt, my head doesn’t go…” all these sort of things that I was getting frustrated about not being able to move in the way I want to, and the simplicity… that just butting up against yourself, Natalie enjoyed that…

That was always the thing that we were working on throughout the script, how does Jacob talk about himself? Because if you are a wolf how able are you do that? how willing are you do that? and how do you then do that honestly?... but also has something that is accessible for an audience too, that was the thing that developed always.”

C.B.M: 16.51 “I know that there are people who want to ask questions…I think so… if not I have got a million more… there is one here if you can tell it then I will repeat it.”

Q 1: 17.03       “I was just wondering if there was any specific scene that you were kind of like nervous to do, if you looked at it and went… O’ God how am I going to do this?”

C.B.M: 17.12 “I will repeat the question… was there a scene you were nervous to do… specifically?”

G.MKY:17.19 “I think… that there was a mixture of the one that I was most nervous about and was also most excited about, which is probably the scene with Lilly on the roof top when they were fully in their animal state, because as I have said the stage direction was beautifully open ended it was where they played together in their animal state, and having seen Terry’s work in the Square…

Natalie also referenced a few films beforehand just to get me focussed. I was asking if there was anything that I should watch beforehand, there was a brilliant film called Border, which is a Swedish film…. there are some extraordinary scenes in it where the actors playing, they go to some extreme places…. I watched that and went Wow….

When you swing hard it can be very embarrassing, it can also be great, so I think that scene deserved of being in its full animal self, which can be marmite for some people, but to me I think that is the one I was most nervous about, but also most inspired about… what would that be like, how cool if we get that.”

Q1: 18.28        “Thank you”

C.B.M: 18.29 “The gentleman in the back row”

Q2: 18.32        “Hi I am Spike, locally known as Barnes White Rabbit, I have been dressing up for ten years as a white rabbit, but I am also a PhD researcher at Kingston University, my research is based on Human/Animal/becoming animal. I wanted to ask if… you had done any research on Therians/Therianthropy?

G.MKY:18.58 “Therianthropy… The Wolfs...Yes”

Q2: 18.59:       “Yes… There is a whole online community”

G.MKY:19.01 “Yes”

Q2: 19.02        “I got it, what you were doing there, as there is a lot of people out there doing what you were doing on screen”

G.MKY: 1910 “Yes”

Q2: 19.11        “that a lot of people are doing it for real, had you met or spoken to anybody that identifies as a Therian?”

G.MKY:19.17 “Spike was asking about Therianthropy where people who identify as a wolf and whether I had spoken to anyone who participates in that… to be honest no… I thought for Jacob I wanted to go completely towards the wolf, as I think if anyone who identifies as a wolf, wouldn’t identify as someone identifying as a wolf.

It would be purely in the animal form and I thought that was the truest way to go towards that to express that was just to approach it full wolf, and in the same sense in the film a lot of people are in the facility have been labelled with species dysphoria, but I thought a lot of these young people there are being told by people, that is what they have and that might be true in some cases, but it also might be a label of who these people who feel they are, or how they feel they are, so I didn’t go towards people with therianthropy, just focussed on being the animal itself.”

Q2: 20.31        “Thank you”

C.B.M: 20.32 “Any more questions from the audience”

Q3: 20.37        “I am Stacey…Hello”

G.MKY:20.38 “Hello”

Q3: 20.39        “Is there any connection between you and Jacob, can you tell me?”

C.B.M: 20.43 “The question is… is there any connection between you and Jacob, any similarities between you and Jacob?”

G.MKY: 20.51 “The similarities would be… I like to be quite focused on one thing at a time, be that if it is work or life… I like to be single minded about things, which I have struggled with over time, whenever you having to separate, when things merge, when doing two things at once or many things at once and that sense of being pulled, whatever that feeling inside is about yourself or about situations or about a number of things that you have to participate in, that fractured feeling, is something that I identify with at certain points over time, this is a strong version of that, so I think that is why I was drawn to the character.”

C.B.M: 21.43 “You seem to be drawn to these characters who are completely immerse in that world. I remember, correct me if I am wrong, when you were shooting for those in pearl when you were in the ambulance… and you were…

G.MKY: 22.01 “O’ that was… (inaudible)

C.B.M: 22.02 “(inaudible)”

G.MKY:22.04 “That was a job where I got a bit sick, there was a scene in an ambulance…they went…”you should come to hospital”… so..

C.B.M: 22.12 “They had a real ambulance and then they were monitoring you and actually your….

G.MK: 22.19   “I was a bit fatigue then… there is some truth in the integrity of something when you do anything a hundred percent when you believe in it a hundred percent, but then how you meet, compromise, of accepting many things at once. The older I get there is more and more compromise there is in life on a day to day and I think that is essential, but the process of coming to terms with that if you like to be quite black and white about of whatever it is you are doing, feeling or think of what you should be, if you corelate that with a singularity meaning that its better, which isn’t always true, but sometimes it might be, even in that the fact that it is sometimes it doesn’t always have to be, just that kind of figuring that out and meeting that presently as you go through life (blip in interview recording).… split loyalty.”

Q3: 23.22        “Thank you”

C.B.M: 23.23 “G…..?” (not sure on the name)

Q4: 22.24        “I was just wondering when in the, I don’t want to give to much away towards the end (inaudible) wild cat does a double look… and said, thinking how could I have a life outside this place, or do I really live my life here. I was wondering if you had a view on whether after that scene cuts, wild cat does climb over the fence, or she feels that this is my life and I can’t go and be my truest form with Jacob as that is not me at all.”

C.B.M: 23.56 “The question is about the final scene, what happens after the final scene in a way, in your mind.”

G.MK: 24.04   “I guess in terms of wildcats actions, I have to confer to Lilly as its only Lilly can truly know but I think, what I love about the relationship in general between them as I think that there is a room for great love in life and in stories where there is a moment is shared, and sometimes that moment can last a lifetime between people, they meet and they Aline, or sometimes there is a cross section where you might be going in the opposite directions but there is that point in the middle with which Jacob is trying to be his most domestic and wildcat is trying be at her most wild and there is a beautiful tragic possibility in that perfect moment and that is a legitimate love but it just doesn’t sustained because they cant (audio jumps) I love the (audio jumps) I think its tragic and beautiful (audio jumps) I see them where there is a moment that was shared, that they couldn’t sustained because of who they have to be, and where they have to go with themselves”
C.B.M: 25.06 “O yes this lady here”

Q4: 25.07 “you spoke a bit about the process, what was your physical process of becoming the wolf, and how did you decide what was wolf like.”

C.B.M: 25.19 “That is a great question.” (audio jumps)

G.MK: 25.21   “It was just experiment and then practice basically, it was really good to start with Terry with this mediative side of the animal state, he would do a lot of things where we simply did this exercise for hours of getting in and out of a chair, and it is sort of ephemeral but Terry would make you get you to use all of your body, rather than just squeezing with your legs to get your bum out of the chair, if you have the tension up with your head you relax everything, you almost think your way out of it, and suddenly you feel so light. “and that’s it, you’re using your whole body, you’re not just, you’re not squeezing it” it is like doing a pull up or something, or rather just using your arms and pulling that bit really tight, you are using your entire body.

Once you engage everything in an almost subconscious way you become much lighter and we had that and that animal thing, where there is a purity in your physicality I guess, that is what Terry helped us with, once we found that state (audio jumps) it was videos…also drew wolf skeletons and the anatomy of the wolf (audio jumps) and go ok, suck my tummy in to create that shape and then I remember Natalie as a gift got me a kids wolf figurine and it was really clear that actually wolves….

as I was crawling but I was crawling like a man on all fours, and so your arms are out in front of you, but when you see the anatomy of a wolf, actually their arms are way out, but if you move your arms underneath your body, it pops your shoulders blades up, which created that and it was like “O” it was really uncomfortable, and of course not natural to go to that first, but you realize once your weight is over the front of yourself it is much more like a wolf, rather being where your legs being the furthest thing in front of you, actually in fact your all four legs are right underneath you, where beforehand I was sort of like a…. not a tripod a quad pod… so there was a lot of strange (audio jumps) …crawling and filming it on my phone and sending it to Natalie.”

C.B.M: 27.33 “I did ask if we can show the video…but he was in his underpants.” (audio jumps)

G.MK: 27.37  “It just became a practice, to walk, to go with the flat back, I remember shaking and sweating so much in that first week in Dublin and actually that is why that hiatus came in the pandemic hit in the terms of the character it was actually really useful, it was just like being fit for anything, first time you go for a job in January, you passed out, by the time you doing in the summer that same run was easy, it was just the case of identifying the aesthetics getting those in the muscle memory so then you weren’t just performing and posing the whole time, but you knew how to get to those poses unconsciously.

Q4: 28.13        “Thank you”

C.B.M: 28.14 “Great… Oh yes...”

Q5: 28.15        “I know you have worked with women directors in the past, and I just wondered how you feel about working for women writer directors because anything different to working for a man or what the kind of processes if it is any… or if women approach it maybe differently.”

C.B.M: 28.36 “That’s a great question about how you feel about working with women directors and I know it was mostly a female crew wasn’t it.”

G.MK: 28.45   “In the terms of HRD’s yes, it was also Feline films that produced it, Jessy also Jane Doolan and Jessy Fisk who produced it. Jessy is younger than me and has produced this whole film, it was the first film back up in Ireland (film pauses) … In terms of… is it different to work with female directors? I don’t think so I think each director is their own, and I think that we are at this point where there needs to be a focus and rebalancing of what is a very patriarchal industry (film pauses) .... But that said, also not patronising those directors to offer those opportunities because you are a woman, every female director I have worked with has been a wonderful director and has worked through in their own compacity in the same way that the men have, and so in a sense that is what the focus is on rebalancing the scales is, is because there is no sex is better, it is just individuals who have stories to tell.”

C.B.M: 30.08 “One last question, then we are looking to wrap up sadly, thank you so much (film blips).”

Q6: 30.12        “Thank you… What does doing a film like this do to your head space when you step away during the filming and after.”

C.B.M:30.24   “What does filming do to your head space before and after.”

G.MK:30.30    “Its funny like… its quite a sad film but it actually feels really good, like it feels great, I think it maybe because there are all these untapped emotions, even a howl, howls feels great, just to howl, (slight blip in film) feels great, and you don’t do that day to day, because you’re not supposed to, which is valid because if we are all
howling right now, it would be intense, but that said it feels great it is almost like having a heavy conversation with a friend you’re like, wow, yeah ok, we went there, and actually I feel lighter after it, so it can be emotionally taxing at certain points, but it feels liberating more than anything, I guess which may be slightly ironic giving the final piece there is a fair amount of sadness in the film (blip in audio) but hopefully there is also a kind of more not triumphant, just about being true to yourself and being… there is a celebration in that by the end of it.”

C.B.M:31.42  “I have got one final question for you that was sent and I hope you are watching Patricia from Brazil who is part of singing McKay, and she wanted know what you will do next, and she wanted specifically talk about the end, so maybe we can talk about the end, which is not the end, but also the end of this film and the end of this talk, so what is the end and what else have you got coming up this year.”

G.MK:32.10   “The end is a project that I am really, really excited about, but forgive me slightly resistant to talk about because we haven’t got there yet, we haven’t got to the end yet and it is a project to be directed by the wonderful director Joshua Oppenheimer and am really resistant to say too much but Josh is.”

C.B.M:32.29   “Is it a musical?”

G.MK:32.30    “It is a musical film, and Josh is an incredible director who has mainly worked in documentaries before and has made an amazing documentary called the act of killing. I think it is a very exciting concoction of Josh with this material and so that’s the end. Then in the terms of what is coming next. I did a project last year called
“I came by” with a director Babak Anvari who did a film Under the Shadow and it’s a thriller set in London…. I don’t really want to say too much, there is fairly mount of twists and turns…. I don’t really want to say anything else, but you just got to go and see it. “I came by” is such a wonderful script that Babak put together with Namsi Khan as well, so please watch it, am sorry to be so vague, but trying to be mysterious.”

C.B.M:33.36   “Thank you so much to all you for coming on your Sunday, thank you for anyone who is tuning in, thank you to the Barnes Film festival for once again bringing us all together and for creating such a lovely community, and thank you to the lush, lush, lush Olympic cinema please come when you can and thank you to George MacKay.”

G.MK:33.59    “Thank you very much, thank you.”

Film Review:
George MacKay Howls Magnificently in Uneven “Wolf”
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed | December 3rd, 2021

Film poster: “Wolf”
Wolf (Nathalie Biancheri, 2021) 2 out of 4 stars.

If one were to rate writer/director Nathalie Biancheri’s new film, Wolf, solely on the merits of star George MacKay’s performance, then it would deserve high praise, indeed. As a young man convinced he is really the titular animal in human clothing, MacKay (1917) delivers a mesmerizing turn, especially as he prowls the halls of the institution to which his parents send him, lupine grace in every movement. Unfortunately, there is more to the story than just him, and not all elements (nor all actors) are created equal. The initial premise may fascinate, but its development quickly goes to the dogs.

Jacob (MacKay) suffers from species dysphoria, and he is far from alone. His fellow patients all believe they should be something else, from dogs to squirrels to cats and more. Overseen by a sadistic head doctor known as “the zookeeper” (Paddy Considine, How to Build a Girl), the hospital features a veritable menagerie of would-be beasts, savage and tame, struggling in a program designed to remind them of their identity as homo sapiens. No amount of therapy proves effective for very long, and the call of the wild rings powerful.

George MacKay in WOLF ©Focus Features

Once inside the walls of what amounts to an asylum, Jacob meets a young woman who goes by Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp, Silent Night), similarly afflicted. She has been there for a while, and appears personally connected (as daughter? sister?) to one of the main caretakers (Eileen Walsh, Made in Italy). Whatever her true role, she shows Jacob the ropes, even offering him a place to howl at night. And slowly, something akin to a relationship (of the interspecies variety) blossoms. Will they help each other learn to accept their true selves and/or learn to pass as regular people? Perhaps.

If only things were that simple. Sadly, Biancheri (Nocturnal) never finds a way to progress the narrative beyond the obvious metaphor of gender and sexual identity under attack from conversion therapy. She also writes herself into a dramatic corner with her ending, more disturbing questions raised than answered. Still, her ambitions are laudable, and there are a few engaging scenes within.

Lily Rose Depp in WOLF ©Focus Features

Almost of all these center around Jacob. MacKay is a wonder, his lean body perfectly in sync with the part. He is clearly human, yet we believe the animal within, at least until the dialogue gets in the way. When he is silently in motion, or emitting his moving cry into the night sky, we can almost imagine that the roles are reversed, and that we witness an actual wolf doing his best impression of a man. In those moments, there is true magic in the air.

MADRID JOURNAL EXTRACT: 2022

Extract of my upgrade status
Extract of my visit to Prado

Dear Spike
Please log in to Online Student Information System (OSIS) where your outcome on your Phd Upgrade Report form has been entered.

Research Dashboard:
Click here to view the Guide to Research Student Management on OSIS for Students
Click here to view the video to Research Student Management on OSIS for Students
SPIKE
Course Details:         Doctor of Philosophy in Kingston School of Art
Start Date:                 01/Mar/2021
Working Title:          The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor
1st Supervisor           Prof SU
2nd Supervisor          Mr SF
Researcher Development
Upgrade report         Completed:    27/Apr/2022   Yes      View

MPhil to PhD UPGRADE REPORT
Student Name Mr Spike
Kingston Student ID
Mode of Attendance Full Time
Date first registered 01/Mar/2021
First Supervisor: Prof SU

Working title of project: The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor
FRDC Outcome
Considered by Faculty Research (Degrees) Committee:
Agree with Recommendation
Decision and Recommendations:
FRDC agree registration should be upgraded to PhD - congratulations! Please note the reviewer comments.

RECOMMENDATION BY NOMINATED BRIEFER:
Lead Panel Member Date

RECOMMENDATION BY LEAD PANEL MEMBER:
registration should be upgraded to PhD
OUTCOME OF PRESENTATION:
As part of the upgrade assessment all students are required to present their work to a panel. The panel must include an assessor independent of the student’s supervisory team. The format of this presentation is determined by the Faculty and may be a viva, formal presentation at a seminar, or other form of assessment where the student presents their work based on the content of the Upgrade Report.
Date of presentation:                        24/Mar/2022
Name of Independent Assessor:      Dr NF
Comments:
This was a convincing and thoughtful presentation, which ranged widely across disciplines at the same time as providing a coherent and plausible roadmap for future research. Throughout the presentation there was a strong sense of solid commitment to the project. Whilst this is primarily a performance piece, it is clear that Spike has thought carefully about anchoring the performance with theoretical rigor and exploring the complexities of human/animal hybridity. To that end we discussed the implications of the particular species of hybrid, and Spike has clearly thought carefully about the connotations of the Lagomorph.

Aside from the popular cultural references to Mary Chase’s play and subsequent film, Harvey, and Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, we discussed the Folklore of the lagomorphs, from the Celtic notion of the puca and the Winnebago Trickster outlined by Paul Radin in his ethnography. I recommended George Ewart Evans’s The Leaping Hare, as an useful discussion of the vast body of folklore, as well as Ted Hughes’s story The Harvesting, which uses the same mythology. Of particular interest would be the folklore ‘revealed/uncovered/invented’ in the Trial of Isabel Gowdie, which would tie into the questions of national identity that Spike is uncovering as part of his research.

The fact that while the Hare is a species native to the British Isles the Rabbit is not, but (on current thinking) was introduced by the Normans is a rich irony that will no doubt feed into future research. I also recommended Lockley’s The Private Life of the Rabbit as a useful counter to over-anthropomorphising the hybrid. I am very happy to recommend that the upgrade to full PhD should be approved and I look forward to seeing the future direction of Spike’s research.

FIRST SUPERVISOR'S REPORT
Progress that the candidate has made so far:
Spike has worked consistently and with great commitment throughout the year. He has been fully involved in the research community both at Kingston and beyond. He has attended several events, including those outside his discipline, and made several important academic connections. He has made excellent progress with his thesis. This has involved extensive work on the practice elements of his PhD, alongside explorations of a number of critical frameworks including ecocriticism, new materialism, post-structuralism, and hybridity theory.

Action Plan for the forthcoming year (including training needs identified)
Spike will continue with his practice, alongside development of his conceptual frameworks. The latter will be supported by focused work on key secondary sources. Spike continues to develop his critical writing and will benefit from attending training sessions on referencing and critical writing.

Changes to the research proposal which may necessitate consideration under the University’s ethics guidelines. For more information see a) Ethics: Guidance and Procedures (for Human Sciences) and b)
Ethical Review of Research Projects Involving Human Participants - Pre-application checklist:
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/research/policies-and-guides/

Once I read the final decision, I really can’t express in words the delight, a warmth rushed through my body, I did a little dance around the hotel room, I had inclination and knew that I had done well, but until you get in in writing, until you can see it in black and white and its formally decided, formally approved and now I can move on and grow into the skin of a researcher, whatever that will involve. As a note, I now get registered from being registered as MPhil to a full PhD researcher. I managed to find on the internet an explanation of what an MPhil is:

https://www.discoverphds.com/advice/doctorates/what-is-an-mphil

What Is an MPhil?

‘MPhil’ stands for ‘Master of Philosophy’ and is an advance postgraduate research degree.
Although the degree is technically classed as a Masters, in reality, it sits close to a Doctorate. This is because an MPhil goes beyond the traditional taught Master’s degree by placing emphasis on independent research and a more-targeted topic.
There are usually two reasons you would undertake an MPhil. First, you may wish to learn new research skills to open up new career opportunities. Second, you may want to do a PhD and so first enrol onto an MPhil, either as a compulsory requirement or under your own free choice, to first gain some research experience and doctoral training.
As these two decisions have different end-goals, an MPhil can either be carried out in one of two ways. It can either be undertaken as a stand-alone research degree or one integrated with a PhD.

What Does an MPhil Involve?
What you do as an MPhil student will be similar to that of a PhD student, but to a limited extent and in a shorter time period. For example, you’ll be required to undertake an investigation around a subject area you have a research interest in. As part of this, you will have to evaluate concepts, understand suitable research methods, use published research and demonstrate an understanding of theoretical and analytical studies.
As part of your degree, you will also be expected to produce a thesis. The length of the thesis differs between universities but is typically around 50,000 words. Although your thesis isn’t expected to provide original research, it will need to provide an original insight or evaluation. It must show you understand the core activities of research work such as the ability to appraise literature, evaluate methods and identify potential limitations. Besides a thesis, you’ll also be required to defend your work in an oral examination. Like a PhD, this examination is known as a viva voce and is conducted with an interview panel.

As MPhils are research degrees, there are no taught components such as classes, coursework or assessments. The exception to this is for MPhils offered by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

MPhils at Oxford and Cambridge
The key difference with the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge is that their MPhils can be a research degree, a taught degree or a mixture of the two.
The MPhils offered at the University of Oxford comprise two parts, each lasting a year. The first part is a taught component while the second is researched-based. Besides this, you will need to sit several assessments for the taught component.
The University of Cambridge offers two types of MPhils. The first is an ‘MPhil by Advanced Study’, and the second is an ‘MPhil by Thesis’. The MPhil by Advanced Study comprises taught components similar to that of the University of Oxford. The MPhil by Thesis is a research-only degree and is therefore similar to the traditional MPhils offered by other universities.

Transferring from an MPhil to a PhD
In the UK, if you’re accepted into a PhD programme, it’s common for you to first be registered for an MPhil. At the end of your first year, your academic supervisor will evaluate whether you have made adequate progress and shown the traits of a competent researcher. This is assessed through a write-up of your study and an oral examination. In some cases, you’ll also be required to produce a detailed action plan detailing how you intend to tackle the rest of your project.
Should you succeed, your registration will be upgraded to a PhD.
The reason a research student is first registered for an MPhil is for screening their suitability and introducing them to the type of work they will undertake in their PhD. This is because an MPhil provides a foundation for developing an individual’s research skills and providing them with specialist knowledge in their research topic.

Transferring from a PhD to an MPhil
Similar to how an MPhil can be upgraded to a PhD, the reverse is also true – a PhD can be ‘downgraded’ to an MPhil.

This usually occurs under one of the following circumstances:
You may complete the first two years of your PhD, but after careful consideration decide it is not for you.
Due to unforeseen circumstances or extenuating personal reasons, you may no longer be able to continue with your studies. The outcome of your PhD viva and subsequent thesis re-submissions is unsuccessful. You can read more about viva outcomes in our Viva Guide.
In all of the above cases, you would still need to prove that the work you have carried out to date meets the requirements of an MPhil. Should you not have much work to show, or should it be of unsatisfactory quality, you will not be considered for an MPhil either.

How Long Does an MPhil Take?
An MPhil can be undertaken either full-time or part-time. If studying full time, a stand-alone MPhil degree will usually take two years. This extends to four years if studying part-time.
If you’re undertaking an MPhil as an initial registration for a PhD, these durations typically halve. However, remember that if you pass your initial registration period, your course will be upgraded to a PhD rather than you being awarded an MPhil.

According to a friend’s brother who lives locally to me, he has just returned from living in South Africa as a history lecturer. I was explaining about my status as a student, he then asked me if I knew where the MPhil degree course came from, which I hadn’t so he decided to explain. According to history a student who began life as a researcher, took many years to fulfil his research, and when he eventually finally finished it, he presented his work to a board, which was rejected on the grounds that his research was out of date. With that he took the university to court and won. The education bodies decided to create an intermediate course to protect not only themselves but the student taking on a PhD. It sounds plausible, I couldn’t find anything on the internet, which doesn’t mean it isn’t the truth, but I liked the explanation, and it does of course make sense.

This past year has been such a challenge, having to overcome my own emotional and psychological barriers, so to get this news today is quite extraordinary, and thanks to Sara my supervisor who has been relentless in guiding me through the various academic mazes to reach this point. I suppose now the real work begins, which I won’t panic about, but hopefully enjoy not having that pressure of failing at this stage, now to walk through that open door that has been presented to me and see which path/s that it leads me on. Here I come hybrid world!

Since I had time on my hands, I sat working on the George Mackay transcript for about two hours, (see above extract of interview) eventually I had to stop as I was getting tired of listening, the constant rewinding the interview, slowing down George’s voice until it sounded like some creature from another planet, so I could work out what he was saying. I headed down to the hotel café and had a ham and cheese toasty and a welcomed cup of tea. While sitting eating, I kept getting distracted by the sound of a spark, a zapping sound, it was one of those electric fly catchers that electrocutes insects as it glows on the wall, it’s quite distracting. I had a text from Nick who is at our local with our friend Nigel who is staying for a few days while I am away. Well, what a lovely way to end this day, news I am so happy and delighted at receiving while in Madrid.

PRADO
I woke up to someone knocking on my door at 9.40am, it was the cleaner, who doesn’t normally come until later in the day, she seemed apologetic and waved her hands to say, its ok I will come back later. I then got myself together and decided to spend time and visit the Prado that many people have recommended especially my friend Julia, who was on about an artist called Bosh and his painting, The Garden of Earthly delights, one of her favourite paintings. I made my way down to the reception who gave me a detailed map on how to get there by bus, which was four or five stops away, the bus stop was opposite the hotel, which I caught and then got off where she had marked for me to get off by the gardens. I walked in the wrong direction, but came across a small local café, where I had breakfast then headed in the right direction and found the Prado. I set about doing some selfies for my FB page, a Punk in Madrid. I was able to get a ticket without any fuss, and no que, I think I was lucky as I imagine its normally packed.

I made my way around the gallery, enjoying looking at the different kinds of art. Down in the basement I came across religious icons, there was one that particularly caught my attention, of a mini shrine, I managed to photograph it, as it gave me inspiration of wanting to make one in relation to the rabbits and hybrids. it was the same kind of energy that I had in Serbia where I came across a discarded shrine in a out house of a Hungarian Catholic church outside a village I was staying at.

On my return to London, I set about constructing the shrine at the University in the workshop, which I was delighted with the outcome and did use it as part of my assessment for my Upgrade. Here I was again, overflowing with inspiration. I carried on viewing the work and taking photographs, then getting told off as I wasn’t allowed. I went into the Prado shop and saw a book by an artist called Bosco, there was an image of a rabbit as a human on the cover. I went and asked if the artist had any work in the gallery, which he did, and off I went in search, I must have passed it a few times as I didn’t notice it, because there were always large groups of people.

It turned out to be Bosh and his tryptic, (The Garden of Earthly Delights) I managed to squeeze through the crowd and was blown away by the painting, I was filled with excitement, lost in a sea of hybrids, demons, monsters, half human, half fish, half animal half something else, and then on the right hand panel almost hidden was my hybrid, it looked like my mask I made for the my short film the ceremony. People were pushing behind me, it was so difficult to really get a clear viewing of it. I moved away as I was getting irritated by the groups of tour guides who felt they had a right to be there.

I moved over to a screen on the wall that had close ups of each painting, it was magnificent. I just couldn’t believe it, here was my research, every hybrid creature I could ever imagine, I have no clue where to start, but the rabbits gave me a doorway way into the painting, as I also noticed two rabbits by a rabbit pillow (mound) behind the two naked figures of Adam and Eve. The tryptic is loaded with information, it would take a lifetime to explore, but it’s a start. I left the painting being overwhelmed by it.

The Spanish refer to Bosh as Bosco, I hadn’t realized it was the same artist, only because I saw that image of the hybrid rabbit, I had to search it out. I found a passage in one of the books that Julia has leant me that described the painting: “The devilish monsters of Bosch are an entirely different phenomenon. They no longer have anything in common with humanity, but are terrifying pieces of machinery, put together out of the elements of man, animal, and thing, ghastly creatures to whom the painter has given a fantastic life.”

Notes from the information on the wall:
Bosch’s meticulous technique and the subjects that he painted explain his success. The startling contents of his works is difficult to interpret given that many of the keys to deciphering them are now lost. The artist derived his inspiration from medieval visual cultures: Devils, monsters, fantastical beasts, and anthropomorphic form, etc. Bosch’s work encourages the viewer to reflect on moral lessons they transmit reunification of material possessions, control of the passions and condemnation of sins, particularly lust.

I was overwhelmed with imagery so had to leave and get fresh air, then decided to go and meet SK for lunch as I wanted to take her out and spend more time.

Extract journal Madrid 2022

The Proposal for the coming research:
PROPOSAL OF TITLE:
The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor: an autoethnographic porthole awakening a cultural belonging through performance and research, raising questions about cultural hybridity and reclaiming a lost identity.

ABSTRACT
The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor is a practice-based performative research project, combining a hybrid of text, objects, and performance to explore the concept of reimaging transformation of cultural identity. It explores a sense of loss of ancestral heritage and the subconscious desire to manifest as a cultural being, reawakening and becoming the hybrid identity within. Through the practice of performance art, artists have been disowned by their friends, family and community, and have embodied suffering, isolation, dehumanisation and demonisation. Yet deep within there is a survivor’s primal instinct, a spirit, a courageous soul, a strength that shines through, which leads to a transformation of the self, finding a place to call home and to be accepted, raising the question of how performance constructs nationality and cultural identity.

The project will explore and investigate the complexity of identity and cultural belonging, using autoethnography as a tool to explore and perform my own autobiography and sense of hybrid identity. I will also explore the existential, psychological, and emotional turmoil that not belonging brings, and how this is manifested through performing the hybrid. The research will use the hybrid to map an emotional and personal journey to understand what my cultural and nationality is; as an artist born in England, brought up in Scotland and second generation Irish but not belonging. Through a spiritual and anthropological journey, the research project will explore the route through mythology and the use of hybrid creatures such as the rabbit within Celtic and English cultural and social structures.

Is this re-imagining of the cultural hybrid a modern-day reconstruction of the shaman? A ritualistic transformation, the outsider, ostracized by the community and widening the gap from those who seek to conform to a structured way of living? Do inherited structures contribute to repressing national and cultural identity, refusing to accept difference in a secular society? Creating an autoethnographic home for a hybrid creature, housing the archives of zoomorphism, raising important questions in relation to hybrid transformation aim to examine what happens when we allow one culture to emerge in another, bringing awareness of a wider society of difference.

STATEMENT ON ANTICIPATED CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor is a practice-based research project that combines performance and academic research, within an ethnographic framework, to explore and uncover where the artist’s sense of national and cultural identity is placed. There are challenges that may arise within the practice-based, ethnographic structure: as Robin Nelson explains about practice as research: “Creative practices do not typically construct rational arguments and adduce evidence to support them. Practice-as-research is not characteristically data based and the organic nature of creative processes means that the laying out of methodologies in advance seem to beg the question of methodical process more than it does in scientific research models” (Nelson 2009 p113). It embraces a transformation into the “other” as “hybrid” as an opportunity to use the body to map out the cultural path of the journey as research.

This research will hope to bring to light a personal and sometimes problematic national and cultural anthropological memories through performance, I am aware that not all memories are of a singular nature, that there is a complex consciousness around ‘whose’ memory weare recalling. Aleida Assmann writes “Not all collective memories exist on the same level; some are part of hierarchical structure.

While in both the private and public dimensions of social memory we meet with multiplicity of voices and opinion, on the political level memories acquire the quality of normative symbols. While there is much room for variation and heterogeneity on the social level, there is very little to no space on the level of nation memory construction that provided the framework to personal social memories” (Assmann 2010 p49). The research will examine how we migrate from our ancestral home and in the course of doing so, lose all traces of our origin, through trying to make new memories and a new start, or trying to fit into unfamiliar cultures. The researcher, through autoethnographic research, opens a journey of self-discovery, reclaiming lost memories and stories, to reclaim a lost identity of being Irish, Scottish, or English and asking how hybrid cultural identity of difference is perceived by others.

Autoethnographic research in this way holds the key to returning to a forgotten landscape, internally and externally, in the case of I it will explore new ground for the researcher, wading through existential memories that I gave away or left behind. Returning to an unknown place, I will attempt to reclaim a history, lost, maybe stolen, or consciously discarded. I the researcher will ponder the question; is national identity and culture easy to rid of? How should I be present in a world through performance? The artist Franko B took part in an exhibition in Bristol and Italy entitled “Performing hybridization” He presented himself wrapped up in toilet paper and playing with a toy. I am left asking myself if Franko is presenting his hybridization as ‘shit’?

What does it take to eradicate an entire ancestral and cultural history which is discarded in toilet paper? In my attempt to bridge the various elements, theory, objects, memories, and performance, I am creating a metaphorical stage for this hybrid research, a place to which my ‘objects’ ‘hybrid’ ‘identity’ and ‘self’ will become present. The French philosopher Etienne Balibar writes “The metaphorical representation of the mind as a ‘stage’ (scene) on which the thoughts that the mind itself observes ‘pass’ and on which intellectual or affective events ‘take place’ (se passent) is also obviously present in Locke. It was traditionally the target of objections concerning the duplication of the mind into observer and observed and the ghostly nature of the internal scene (or stage)” (Balibar 2013 p56).

Growing up as a child any reference to my own family history was forbidden. I was not aware of this conscious act to withhold the knowledge of my ancestral linage. I hold memories of being given my aunt’s address, which was quickly taken away from me and ripped up, as I was not allowed to have contact with her. Using autoethnographic performance to create a hybrid creature. I uncover lost history that asks “Where have all the stories gone?” By re-discovering my heritage, unearthing forgotten memories, and forgotten stories I ask how is identity lost? How is cultural history discarded?

CRITICAL FRAMEWORK
This is an open question: what or who influences our experience of identity? Who decides what is acceptable or unacceptable way of being? Who decides to label us man woman, animal? I understand the complexity of this question, it is a whole research within itself, though these questions are integral to my research in relation in defining the ‘other’ or the ‘hybrid’. Judith Butler writes: “The alternative perspective on identification that emerges from psychoanalytic theory suggests that multiple and coexisting identifications produce conflicts, convergences, and innovative dissonances within gender configurations which contest the fixity of masculine and feminine placements with respect to the paternal law.

In effect, the possibility of multiple identifications (which are not finally reducible to primary or founding identifications that are fixed within masculine and feminine positions) suggest that the Law is not deterministic and that “the” law may not even suggest singular” (Butler 1990 p91). In film and literature, theatre, art, and live art there is frequently a focus on trying to unravel human identity, portraying the human figure as a freak, a monster, an alien, something other than human a mystical figure, a hybrid also portrayed as an outsider, thing, some other, some androgynous un-identifying human breaking the boundaries of the cultural norm.

As a performer I am aware that when wearing a costume I am free from inhibitions, “I” as white rabbit can break social norms, or social etiquette, in the similar way that live performance offers a sense of freedom to let go of all the restraints inflicted upon us through our cultural and national obligations, the writer Giorgio Agamben explains: “In Heidegger’s interpretation, the animal can relate itself to its disinhibitor neither as being nor as nonbeing because only with man is the disinhibitor for the first time allowed to be as such; only with man can there be something like being, and beings become accessible and manifest” (Agamben 2002).

This is very evident in the performance work of Orlan: “From 1990 to 1995, for The Reincarnation of Saint-Orlan, Orlan underwent nine plastic surgeries on her face to resemble the features of famous women in Western art history. Orlan had implants to her forehead to look like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503–1519) (a hostile public referred to them as “Demon horns”), an operation to shape her chin to evoke Botticelli’s Venus (1490), and an operation to reshape her mouth as an homage to François Boucher’s The Rape of Europa (1732–1734). Orlan often remained conscious throughout the operations. Her surgical transformations were documented through photographs and film.” In an interview: Orlan says that "Religion is always against women, and Christian art wants us to not touch bodies, to choose between good and evil. But all my work is about good and evil. So for me God isn't a solution for my life, or for my work." The Guardian (2009)

This fear of being different is transferred through the repression of sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity. Within the performance art community, the boundaries of identity are frequently being called into question through the embodiment of different forms, and the use of costume: for example, the performance artist Mathew Barney in his series of “drawing restraints 7” shows Barney as a hairless, horned satyr sans genitalia, cavorting with two cloven hoofed satyrs in a variety of settings. As each scene develops it shows Barney pushing the notion of the body as a container-of narrative, of discipline, of secret desires, and “of an anarchic domain of its own” (Goldberg 1998 p124).

The Fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) also entered the discussion of pushing beyond the physical boundary of being human through his fashion designs. He had a fearless and boundless imagination that reflected in his work. As Trisha de Borchgrave writes, “If an invasion of extra-terrestrials were imminent, we could do worse than imagine creatures resembling those of Alexander McQueen’s” (Huff Post)

The Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery (1961-1994) was no stranger to breaking boundaries of identity or fashion, “Born in the suburbs of Melbourne, he moved to London in 1981 where he began making clothes as a masquerade to obscure his own appearance. It has been suggested that “Bowery’s extraordinary fashion sense was not commercially viable, so he used himself and his body as an artwork – using paint, make-up, piercing, costume and physical distortion to create a human exhibition” (Buckingham and Young 1999).

The musician Lady Gaga wore a dress made from raw beef in 2010, which was referred in the media as the meat dress. “LADY GAGA'S meat dress was a powerful political statement, rather than just another attention-grabbing outfit. The star says the look referred to a speech she made, The Prime Rib of America, which urged the US military not to discriminate against gay men and lesbians from serving in the army. She says that the law prevents the military from enjoying "the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer" (Vogue 2011).

Through their work these artists ask what is and what isn’t acceptable as human? The examples of the above artists I have given work with their bodies and costumes in order to cross all cultural and aesthetic boundaries thus creating a gender neutral and sexless hybrid fashion. At its core the aim is to give the human permission to be who they truly feel they are without social restraints. As Leigh Bowery says: “dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother” (RMIT Gallery 1999).
Ron Athey, Self-Obliteration (Athey's work explores challenging subjects like the relationships between desire, sexuality, and traumatic experience)

My own practice in live art has been influenced by other practitioners, under whose guidance and teaching I have been privileged to have been. Frank B, Ron Athey, Janine Antoni and Bobby Baker are just a few who have helped to shape, enrich, and inspire me in live art. I am bringing to this research, as it will complement my path of enquiry alongside autoethnography and critical theory.

Over the years I have been challenged to define the difference between being an actor and a performance artist. As a live art practitioner, I am constantly reflecting on where art and life become real, even when I am wearing a rabbit costume and that we are not pretending to be another human being. The performance artist Marina Abramovic explains “Performance is real, in theatre you can cut with a knife and there is blood. The knife is not real, the blood is not real. In performance the blood and the knife, and the body of the performer is real.”

From my personal experience we are investigating our own bodies and sense of identity, and how real can we or I become in a live moment, as a body or encased in a costume. All these performers touch upon the fear of being different and cultural identity, they have used their art to embody the repression of sexuality, sexual orientation gender and gender identity. Athey’s pain is very visible and very real, with his blood performances. The tension of sexuality is thick in the air of his live pieces. Dominic Johnson describes how: “Athey’s work thus insistently activates passion and pathos in interrelated ways that are queer in effect both in an obvious sense relating to an open-end mode of sexual identification (his actions are queer), and in the nuanced sense of disruptive to the very binaries by which nations, bodies and subjects are defined as separate and discrete” (Johnson 2013).

I attended one of his performances at the National Review of Live art in Glasgow in 2010, the infamous performance where Ron Athey was on a small, raised stage wearing a blond wig, naked. It was a packed room with the audience standing around the room and the stage was shielded by strategically placed sheets of glass. I was about a metre away from Athey, and could hear a peculiar hissing sound, it was quite haunting. I had no idea what it was, I looked around the room and before my eyes I could see people collapsing on the floor and some rushing to get out. Then I looked up and could see blood spraying out of Athey’s head, he had pierced a vein and the blood was projected on to glass.

Athey has often said in his talks that it’s not always about his body, it is about what is in his blood. This is something that an actor cannot do for real, but in performance art, there is a platform to bring realness to the surface, it was quite an experience witnessing people faint and panic at the site of real blood. There is a long tradition from nation to nation of using the body as a tool, it is a way the artist can communicate directly without words, the power of the visual and the spatial can grip those who encounter the body in the process of a live moment. It is an unpredictable sometimes, dangerous, encounter as Stephen Barber explains: “Hijikata believed that the human body was under threat from a multiplicity of sources: warfare, cultural uprooting, consumerists urban environments, and also from gradual unravelling of essential obsessions or narratives of the human body in transformation or glorious abjection” (Barber 2006).

Artists such as Ana Mendieta have primarily worked with themes relating to “exile, displacement, and a return to the landscape. Her unique hybrid of form and documentation, works that she titled “siluetas,” are fugitive and potent traces of the artist’s inscription of her body in the landscape, often transformed by natural elements such as fire and water.” “My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the Universe. It is a return to the maternal source.”
During the Cuban revolution Mendieta at the age of twelve was sent to live in a foster home in America, leaving her family and her community behind where she lived for five years.

This experience has influenced her work on displacement and identification, absence, violence, and belonging. the inseparability of her body, and her sense of cultural heritage, blurring artistic boundaries of the body, land, and performance art. As an artist I can relate to Mendieta as I know the experience of being sent away from home to live in unfamiliar surroundings away from the community, in isolation. Like Mendieta that experience stirs a longing to embrace my cultural heritage. In the quest of becoming, of embracing one’s sense of culture and identity (whether that is becoming part of the landscape, community or becoming animal.) What this research highlights is the need to enquire further of my identity. Through autoethnography I will objectively question where I belong within my cultural and national identity.

This opens a wider discussion regarding other individuals that decide to take this path such as Charles Foster, the man who claims to have lived as an animal. Is his becoming or interpreting what it is to be other than human by taking on the identity of a beast such as Badger or Fox? Foster’s interpretation of being a hybrid creature is found where for brief moments he wears masks and lives outside amongst nature, but then returns to his wife and children as a husband and a father. I do question if he really is living life as animal as he claims to be, as an animal can’t stop being an animal? He is unlike Athey and Mendieta who totally immerse their bodies into their pain and suffering, trying to break the boundaries between their physical presence to cross the bridge through the walls of their perceived identity and reclaim in public their cultural and national identity, with blood, mud, sweat, flowers as aid to penetrate their ideology of self and become part of the very landscape into which they are born.

David Lynch’s “Rabbits” (2002) a series of eight short films, is classed as “horror”, where "In a nameless city overwhelmed by continuous rain... three hybrid rabbits live with a fearful mystery". These short scenes capture a possible glimpse of what a home of a hybrid creature may look. In exploring the hybrid in this context, I draw on a range of theoretical sources that examine the animal and its cultural significance.

As Jacques Derrida puts it; “The animal in general, what is it? What does that mean? Who is it? To what does that “it” corresponds? To whom? Who responds to whom? Who responds in and to the common, general, and singular name of what they thus blithely call the “animal”? Who is that responds? (Derrida 2008. p51). I am interested in the autoethnographic aspects of my own animal performances and becoming a hybrid, in whatever form that will manifest in the future that is yet to arrive. Generally, performers who perform as animal, wear the head of animal, in the case of Charles Foster, who adorns his body with the head of animals rather than the full costume. In contrast unlike my own hybrid costume covers the whole body, whereas other performers expose the body of the human and a synthetic/natural mask that is an interpretation of animal.

As Derrida asks Who is? What does? Whom? Who is called the animal? This question caused me to reflect in relation to humans wanting to become animal. The idea that placing the ‘being’ inside ‘animal’ or existentially is the animal ‘inside’ the human, and does this enable the human to see the world from another perspective, other than human? other than self? other than a child of God? but of animal? The animal that human is dependent on for war, food, clothing, companion, and protector. The struggle to bridge the divide between animal and human is a complex matter, yet ‘we’ humankind control, dictate, eat, breed animal. However, there is still a deep desire in us to be, to become, to live as animal. The idea or even the possibility that a human will give up the privilege of being of a dominant species, to trade places with animal! Here lies the complexity of national and cultural identity, where would it belong? What would it become? Into what animal pack would the ‘discarded’ carcass of the human be placed?

In Lynch’s film “Rabbits” the actors are wearing just the head of a rabbit with the human body and take on an identity of hybrid creature on stage and perform to a script. The difference is, here we have a director, actors creating a scene for us to view, whereas the performer’s intention is to “become” and integrate the animal into the community and their own life, blurring the boundaries of their national and cultural identity with the very animal they have embraced as themselves, which Foster sets out to demonstrate. Giorgio Agamben has explored the complexity of the relationship between man and animal, the perception and misperceptions, and the animalisation of the human “To let the animal be would then mean: to let it be outside of being. The zone of nonknowledge-or of a-knowledge-that is at issue here is beyond both knowing and not knowing, beyond disconcealing and concealing, beyond being and the nothing.” (Agamben 2002. p91).

METHODOLOGY
I am working with a multidisciplinary method engaging with moving between theory and practice. I will be involving various academic disciplines as well as primary research, transcribing text from performative investigation/s of becoming a hybrid and utilizing the university workshops and the expertise of technicians. I will create and build objects that will be used directly in the research and for the purpose of constructing a hybrid archive. The archive will include objects such as masks, costumes, shrines, and anthropological icons. I will also use recordings of performances as a way of collecting personal information about my own autoethnographic journey and embed my stories into the writing of text that will support the performative research. I have attended various workshops at Kew Archives, Wolfson College in Oxford, and a research conference in Manchester. I also attended numerous online workshops, not only from Kingston University but also from other organisations to improve my understanding and mapping my research.

I will build up a comprehensive archive from participatory research, to inform and support my conclusions on my autoethnographic practice-based research about where my national and cultural identity belongs. To support this, I hope help to identify where in 1889 migration change happened within my own ancestral story, and the discarding of our Irish identity on both parental side of my family. (According to family members one of aunts on my father’s side burnt all our family documents as they were written in Gaelic, this was done because “she could not read them.”) The research is a hybrid of methods, and I will draw upon amalgam of family archives, as well as research Celtic and English folklore and mythology. Covid 19 has put limitations on of getting physical access to archives, and not all archives are online. I will add to this research through tv documentaries, films containing hybrid creatures, social media, and the internet, as well as on-line reputable academic research journals. I will also draw upon the information that is revealed through taking a DNA test: Origins + Ethnicity.

Through being a hybrid creature, drawing upon the structure of autoethnography, the live art community and archives as well as academic material. I will focus on how the performer is perceived and where my sense of national and cultural identity belongs. The final submission will take the form of practice, consisting of exhibition and film, alongside a critical appraisal that will examine the autoethnographic pursuit of questions of national identity via the hybrid animal. This will be structured as below.

Introduction:
Chapter 1:
How has the White Rabbit raised the question of national identity and cultural Hybridity?
This chapter will set the ground for the discussion through autoethnographic structure, how performing as the rabbit accidentally touched upon national and cultural identity and raised the awareness of the artist’s own hybrid identity and lack of belonging.

Chapter 2:
Creating the hybrid, a cultural experience.
This chapter will explore the different approaches of making the hybrid in various countries, using locally sourced material from each location and will deal with different languages and cultures that will influence the structure and creation of the hybrid.

Chapter 3:
Performing the hybrid on location.
This chapter will look at what happened when the hybrid performed within different cultural environments and locations. It will reflect on the sense of identity the hybrid acquires. Will locals react to seeing the hybrid as one of their own?

Chapter 4:
The artists autoethnography retelling and performing of his own unravelling of his hybrid identity.
His Irish linage was discarded, forgotten to the point where the sense of his true origin has been lost through time. His birth in England to Scottish parents has diluted his sense of belonging. Where is his cultural home? This chapter will also discuss the findings of a DNA test of origins and ethnicity and consider how this new thought will contribute to the autoethnographic research.

Conclusion.
The conclusion will draw together the auto ethnographical research and present the findings and arguments concerning the destructive nature of losing one’s identity.

PERFORMANCE AS RESEARCH
In my first year I have built a prototype of the hybrid Creature, who was created and brought to life in Thetford in Norfolk, where I did a field trip. I have already collated and transcribed in text and visual documentation the making and creating of the hybrid. This includes collecting the objects that relate to the project and examples of zoomorphism from the shrine to all rabbits and hares, as well as a Marotte. I did a field trip to Serbia, where I got the inspiration of creating the shrine from. The performance was filmed and made into an eight-minute research film. I have also made two small research cabinets dissecting the costume analysing the idea of the significance role of white rabbit, with text and images, as well as samples from the synthetic costume.

I have covered a cross section of various disciplinary fields from live performance, academic and visual research. I found the British Library’s medieval archives informative, where I enjoyed discovering anthropomorphic rabbits and hybrid humans. I also have spent time looking at literature that covers the broad scale of identity, from therianthropy, animism, biology, physiology, and life writing. I have spent time researching tv documentaries, films containing hybrid creatures, therians, online and social media, and medical science blog pages. This research embodies the journey of individuals who take the step towards examining questions of self, exploring the potential of animal embodiment and supporting their idea of being.

SAMPLE OF CHAPTER:
Chapter 1: How has the White Rabbit raised the question of national identity and cultural hybridity?
Vignette 1: On the streets of Tokyo near Tokyo main line train station a Japanese white rabbit waves and greets the public, he’s just wandering around engaging with other Japanese locals, with no purpose other than being. As he is stopped to be photographed with people taking selfies, smiling, laughing, draping their bodies over the white fur and doing the traditional v sign, he then disappears down the streets of Ginza, after receiving a few affectionate hugs.

Vignette 2:
In Paris a French white rabbit is hanging around viewing the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero platform, surrounded by ancient statues; he is approached by a group of Tibetan Monks draped in bright orange, who set about taking a group photograph as the rabbit stands in the middle. Afterwards eight Gendarmerie Nationale officers gather around the rabbit holding their rifles to their chest, they pull the rabbit in the middle, drape their arms over his shoulder and continued to pose for the group photograph.

Afters the rabbit is caged by a body of Italian students, with excitement they do different posed positions for the camera. In the spirit of the Flaneur he then heads off down the Metro and disappears into the depth of Paris.

Vignette 3:
In Manila a Filipino rabbit hangs out with his friend, a local artist Sam Penaso as his alter ego (Stripe Walker). They both walk over roads in the marketplace, waving, enjoying each other’s company and posing for photographs as two dogs are caught fucking.

Vignette 4
Two hours from Belgrade is a small town called Odzaci where a Serbian white rabbit is wandering through the local streets, waving, walking; kids are screaming with excitement in a local park. Residents sit and eat homemade ice cream as they observe the encounter, laughing and photographing the rabbit as he walks past small bars blasting out Serbian folk music: he waves as men sit at small tables consuming their beer.

Vignetter 5:
In Islamabad, the daily Koran is being sung from towers, projected out over the city as a Pakistani rabbit is wandering through a small, wooded area, crossing a busy road to the bewilderment of local drivers, confused, but happy. Other locals appear and drape their arms over their friend’s white fur as they pose for photographs, talking in Urdu and laughing, amidst dust and car fumes.

A Warren of nations and cultural identities
Before the hybrid creature there was a rabbit. In this first chapter. I employ an autoethnographic methodology to examine how, through an accidental encounter, the rabbit occupies and morphs into a national and cultural identity. There are layers of facets that come into play, as I attempt to peel away the complexity of the hybrid, who is not only present in a public and personal space, how the hybrid has become integrated within a community. A performance has organically progressed as ethnographic research.

I want to draw your attention to the many cultures that the white rabbit exists in. The vignettes used above are real stories, capturing, real encounters in various countries. The rabbit is embraced, loved, photographed, greeted with a warm welcome, a long-lost friend. But in truth inside the costume, he is not Japanese, French, Filipino, Serbian, or Pakistani, he is an imposter! A trojan horse! Behind the mask is a British artist, white, gay and a foreigner: yet the rabbit is part of all nations and culture.

The question here is why? I know that I would not be greeted in the same way when I appear out of the costume, certainly the Gendarmerie Nationale officers would never want to pose with me and intimately drape their arms over my shoulder. While working on this research I came to the realization as I thought about the form of a hybrid and how I could integrate the hybrid within different cultures and nations. I realized by accident that over a period of ten years of travelling to other countries, these encounters happened. It has thrown up some interesting questions about the hybrid culture of societies, and how we accept and don’t accept certain cultural influence, including how we deal with foreigners, and who we class as a foreigner. For some reason the rules are broken down when it comes to a large white rabbit, quietly walking, exploring, minding his own business, these encounters happen, they are not forced. I have not intentionally gone out to see what the reaction is, it was a performative live moment in which, these vignettes occurred.

My experience in Britain is a mixed one: on the one hand I am “White Rabbit” and the rabbit is embraced, as it is in other nations, but in the UK there is also much suspicion and mistrust. As the rabbit I am followed by strangers in cars, displaying threatening behaviour, and demanding that I remove my mask. Security officers have thrown me out of their establishments, and Durham Cathedral threw me out of their grounds during a public event. I have been asked by police to remove the mask of white rabbit on various occasions. In one instance I was stopped along with three police cars and an ambulance: they were prepared to section me (the artist) not white rabbit.

The costume itself is a commercial one, replicated throughout the world. In this way anyone can become white rabbit. This translation reflects the radical potential of national cultures as sites of hybridity and change, reflecting the idea that “The ‘locality’ of national culture is neither unified nor unitary in relation to itself, nor must it be seen simply as ‘other’ in relation to what is outside or beyond it. The boundary is Janus-faced and the problem of outside/inside must always itself be a process of hybridity, incorporating new ‘people’ in the political process, producing unmanned meaning and, inevitably, in the political process, producing unmanned site of political antagonism and unpredictable forces for political representation” (Bhabah 1990 p4).

Let’s explore the space/s that the white rabbit and the hybrid inhabits. To break this down, I will categorise each space.
•           Sitting on a wall, beside a busy road in a public space in-tween a main line railway station and a public Inn.
•           The space of a residential community whose homes look out on to the space, to where the rabbit inhabits every first of the month, from 7am until 8am (since 2015).
•           The space within the costume between the body and the synthetic material.
•           The emotional and psychological space.
•           Inhabiting foreign spaces/nations.

SAMPLE OF EXHIBITION
As part of this practice based PhD I will present an exhibition that will display the objects as research material and archive. The exhibition will display the hybrid/s and the shrine/s as well as show any films of performances from other nations. In this sample exhibition, I was able to get the idea of the possibility of how it could look, though in this instance I hired a local church hall in Hampton Wick, which was adequate for this exercise. Within the context of this set up, I displayed the shrine and various objects that relate to it, as well as a small shrine with a chalice. The hybrid was displayed on a six-foot mannequin called Max.

I set up a hydroponic tent where I projected the film, I made in 2021 as part of this research titled “The ceremony”. What I wanted to create was the idea of looking into a rabbit hole. In the final project I can visualise the concept of building a rabbit hole for viewers to peer into where a film/s of the hybrid/s is being shown, there could also possibly be more than one rabbit hole! I have included a separate document of the application to hire the venue and my list setting out the display.

In creating this display, it highlighted some things for me to keep in mind:

•           Employing assistants to help to set up and set down
•           Hire of a venue/public insurance
•           Setting a budget
•           Electrical equipment that I may need (i.e., projectors, computers etc)
•           Material to construct the setting of the exhibition
•           Hire of a vehicle
•           Time management
•           Publicity material
•           When planning the exhibition, the need to include disabled access into the building and throughout the exhibition. (Where to place the rabbit holes) (different eye levels of viewing)
•           Lighting/audio sounds/ Clearly written text for hard of hearing or deaf/and brail. (creation of vibrations for people to touch and feel the sounds.)
•           Create tactile images for visitors to touch. (In previous work I have created photographic images that people who are registered blind can touch and feel the image as light boxes, with brail.)
•           Development of audio guide, describing the objects and the display.

I realized through this display that it may not be impossible to bring back hybrids from other nations, depending on what material I use in the making of the hybrids. I will include photographic images of the work as well as film. I had the opportunity to photograph and explore with overexposing some of the images to distort and mystify the hybrid. It was an exhausting day, but I feel it was a very productive and worthwhile exercise to do and that it also helped to put into perspective of how to integrate the exhibition as part of this practice-based PhD.

ARCHIVE FROM 2021

Initial research title and summary

KINGSTON UNIVERSITY

Spike Mclarrity

Contact

Email: [email protected]
Location: Kingston School of Art, Knights Park
Faculty: Kingston School of Art
School: School of Arts
Department: Department of Fine Art
Research group/centre: Contemporary Art Research Centre (CARC)
Personal website

Research project: The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor

Abstract
My project-based research is at its humble beginnings. I will research the metaphorical rabbit burrow, to delve into the art, myth and folklores surrounding the rabbit. Where does fact and fiction blur? Why has the rabbit become so deeply imbedded in folklore that even today we still practice in ignorance reciting every month white rabbit x 3 times. Evoking the power and luck that we humans believe that the rabbit holds. "the lucky rabbits foot" or saying "White Rabbit" Because of its fertility white rabbit is closely associated with sexuality, Spring and Easter ceremonies. "Can rabbits actually lay eggs?" What is the truth behind these old tales and why do we still practice these rituals? This ritual was first mentioned in 1909 in Notes and Queries an Oxford gentleman's magazine.

Around he late 1800 Carl Lewis published Alice adventures in wonderland, where the introduction of white rabbit became infamous of running late, wearing a waste coat and carrying a fob. Later there were various films depicting the mythical rabbit "Pooka" Such as James Stewards invisible friend "Harvey" and films like Donny Darko and programs such as Mr Oratio Knibbles have left an imprint in our subconscious that rabbits seem to link to hallucinations or madness, as well as bringing humans good luck. During the second world war pilots would carry a rabbit foot to bring them home safely. It is also believed President Theodore Roosevelt was famous for carrying a rabbits’ foot while campaigning as president in 1932. Before beginning her march, Boudica supposedly released a rabbit from her skirts as a divination. The rabbit hopped in an auspicious direction, and Boudica prayed loudly to Andraste, the Celtic goddess of victory.

The research is in its very early stages, and will in no doubt over time will go through a transformation, and even a title or two change! the intention is to delve into the existential myths and folklore of the rabbit, drawing upon a rich source of information from folk archives, British Library, Kew Archives, The Museum of Ethnography in Belgrade, and other archaeological museums in the UK and throughout Europe. Crossing international waters, engaging in site specific anthropomorphic live performances, placing and displacing the performer in different nations, concealed within an animal costume. Embodying the essence of spiritual, sexual, and ritualistic practices of the rabbit, using performance as a way to ask questions, using costumes as part of the research practice. While Barnes White Rabbit is already an established performance, I will use this as a platform to explore different research practices, which will include creating new mythological costumes, to extract the knowledge that is concealed beneath the layers of masks.

Research degree: Practice-based PhD
Title of project: The Rabbit Hole as Metaphor
Research supervisor: professor SU
Other research supervisors:
- Dr H B
- Mr S.J. F

Biography
In 2012 I graduated from my MA in performance and visual practices with distinction at Brighton University and since then have been travelling on the international performance scene, attending various festivals across Asia. I have been travelling to Japan for several years, where I spend a month travelling, performing, and exhibiting artwork at Café Goddard Gallery in Tokyo, Donkey and Orange in Nishi Ogikubo as well as attending NIPAF (Nippon International Arts Festival) where I travelled for two weeks throughout Japan along with other international artists performing in different cities. I have also travelled and performed in the Philippines and ran free lectures in local schools and talks with local art groups.

I took part in the IMAF (International Multimedia Arts Festival) In Serbia, collaborating with local Serbian artists, and many other festivals throughout Europe. I have focussed on building up an international portfolio over the past nine years and have a vast network of performance artists that I work with across the world. My work is mainly existential and live, I have been free to live and breathe as a conceptual performance artist without the restraints of institutions allowing the nomadic element of work to emerge. In 2019 I took part in the first ever Islamabad Art Festival in Pakistan, where I ran free workshops and lectures and was awarded for my performance "Behind the mask of White rabbit is a Shaman".

My work generally deals with male identity, though I spend most of my life behind the mask of my alter ego Barnes White Rabbit. In 2016 I was outed by the UK press, which then went viral for my performance of appearing every first of the month on a wall by the river Thames in South West London dressed as a large white rabbit. This has led me to investigate aspects of the art, myth, and folklore of the rabbit.

Areas of research interest

The Artist Path of the Flaneur
Site specific activism
collaborative conceptual performance practice
Existential practices
Psycho drifting and Nomadic Encounters
The myths of White Rabbit

Qualifications

MA in performance and visual practices (Distinction) Brighton University
BA: Fine Art Kingston University. London

Publications
White Rabbit "Celebrating Ten Years of Barnes White Rabbit". ISBN (978-1-5272-8823-2)

SPIKE MCLARRITY