COMFORT ZONES (exhibition)

COMFORT ZONES Bee Hughes & Eva Petersen Comfort Zones is an exhibition of works in progress by Bee Hughes and Eva Petersen which brings together pieces created as part of their individual PhD research with a new collaborative soundwork. The works presented were developed from an interrogation of their own comfort zones regarding the representation of female bodies, and confront how different aspects of female identities are perceived and received. Through their visual works both artists aim to question the simultaneous objectiication and censorship of female bodies and experiences in different areas of contemporary culture. The soundwork – Un-voiced (2017) – embraces ambiguity, drawing on themes including identity and cultural performance and cultures of performance. The piece combines spoken word with non-vocal sounds, alluding to the various ways our contemporary culture tends to silence or homogenise individual female experiences. Bee’s research explores menstruation and its associated rituals and behaviours – from people who have periods and do not - as a process which reinforces certain social performances of gender. Through the documentation of her own bodily cycles Bee aims to present menstruation as a constantly shifting process that luctuates within everyday life, as opposed to the static and regimented pattern we often expect it to be. The daily ritual of making prints eventually becomes a long-term record, establishing a space of resistance to everyday cultural narratives of menstruation. The creation of this work has been embedded in Bee’s daily routines, forming an archival document of the changes in her body over an extended period of time. The ritual of making prints establishes a space of resistance to everyday cultural narratives which regard menstruation as a taboo subject, and as a ‘problem’ for individual women to deal with. Eva’s research is a response to the restrictions she faced as a woman performing, writing and composing music within the music industry. Through her autobiographical work, she aims to reclaim creative autonomy by creating an album entitled Voices of Winter Palace of which she has total creative control - from the composition of the music, lyrics, melodies to artwork, video, studio recording, music production and performance. Eva’s compositions are created using graphic scores and non-traditional notation which she developed as an aide-memoir whilst on tour as a recording artist at the beginning of her music career. The graphic scores and notation have become a piece of visual artwork in their own right. Through her work, Eva questions the perceptions of a woman’s body and her own comfort zones as a performer within the music industry. Eva’s three photographic prints Yes, I Am Looking Straight at You (2017) are a series of self-portraits taken before, during and after singing. The series is a response to the objectiication of her performances, the stereotypical photography sessions she experienced as a musician and an exploration of the threat of leading women performers. List of Works Cases: Bee Hughes Cycles (2016-2017) archival work documenting the artist’s body on a daily basis twelve hand-stitched, mono-printed linen scrolls Eva Petersen untitled (2017) cut-out and cut-up graphic notation acrylic paint on paper Central Installation: Bee Hughes Ininite Cycle (version i.) (2017) digital reproductions of the original Cycles in continuous playback mixed media installation, custom plinth and multiple screens Bee Hughes & Eva Petersen Un-voiced (2017) vocal performance digital recording Wall: Eva Petersen Yes, I am Looking Straight at You (2017) series of photographic self-portraits taken before, during and after a vocal performance digital photographic prints on gloss paper Further Information Bee Hughes is an artist, performer and researcher working in areas including experimental printmaking, performance and sculpture as well as creative and academic writing. Her interdisciplinary Doctoral research provisionally entitled Menstrual Culture: Personal Ritual and Performance - draws on autobiographical experiences and artistic practice to explore the social performance of menstruation in everyday society and interrogates Western attitudes towards vulvae and vaginas as represented in art, medical communication, and the visual and material culture of everyday life. Bee has presented her previous research at international conferences, and has written for a number of online publications in diverse areas including literary studies, printmaking, illustration and sound art. Her article, ‘A Lost World: The Missed History of Illustration’ was published in the International Journal of the Image in April this year. Since 2012 Bee has taught in a number of departments at LJMU including Graphic Arts, History of Art and Media Studies and led an interdisciplinary contextual studies series at UCLan. Permutations of Cycles (2016-2017) were exhibited earlier this year in the USA and the UK, and the project was selected for inclusion in the Vagina Museum’s inaugural exhibition as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2017). Eva Petersen is a visual artist, composer, vocalist and performer. In 2002, Eva founded Liverpool band The Little Flames as lead singer, and was signed to Deltasonic /Sony BMG. The band toured the UK, Europe and Japan with The Arctic Monkeys and The Coral, releasing their album The Day Is Not Today to critical acclaim. Eva has given many interviews with publications such as Mojo, Q, NME, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, and Elle as well as leading publications in Japan, and interviews with BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Merseyside in the UK, and with Japanese, American and European radio stations. In 2012, Eva released her solo album Emerald Green Eyes, a collaboration with guitarist Will Sergeant from Echo and the Bunnymen, to critical acclaim. Eva has also been commissioned by Mojo magazine and ilmmaker John Davide. Eva’s second solo album is due for release 2018. Eva was commissioned in May 2017 by Women in Sound, Women on Sound (www.wiswos. com) to create The British Female Pioneers of Experimental Sound: Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram, an online tutorial which is part of the Activate Women in Sound project funded by Lancaster University aimed to ignite young women’s interest in sound.