Shawna Dempsey et Lorri Milan Mary Medusa
Photo avec l’autorisation de l’artiste
“Like most North American women, we have grown up with the feeling of being both disaffected from our bodies and defined by them. Our work provides us with many ways of ‘resolving’ this internal paradox. In the universe created by performance, the physical and the mental unite in a single image, giving our characters the freedom to define themselves. As performers, we also draw a driving force from the power of storytelling. Indeed, we are always influenced by lessons and images that come to us from myths (ancient or more recent…) charged with meaning that we often take for granted. Our challenge is to retell these stories in an authentic way that reflects our own experience.” S.D. and L.M.
Photo avec l’autorisation de l’artiste
Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Milan have been collaborating on performances since 1989. Their work is feminist in nature and emphasises the use of costume. Dempsey and Millan made a name for themselves across the country with pieces such as Object/Subject of Desire (1989), Mermaid in Love (1990), Mary Medusa (1992) and Plaster Virgin (1992). However, their huge fame stems mainly from a rap performance entitled We’re Talking Vulva. This five-minute piece features a giant vulva (played by Shawna Dempsey) describing its own parts and their function, all in a light-hearted and particularly “vibrant” tone… This performance was transposed to the screen in 1990, and since then over a million viewers around the world have seen the film. Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan recently presented it at the Third International Istanbul Biennial. The film was one of seven works chosen to represent Canada.