The People Pleaser

The People Pleaser from Whitney Warne on Vimeo.

Kate Gilmore

Kate Gilmore is somewhat of a Lone Ranger. At the present time she is working exclusively in video, creating single take films of her performances in front of the camera. In her videos we often see Gilmore climbing, breaking through, lifting or struggling against formidable barriers. As Gilmore struggles for resolution we realize that everything is happening authentically and nothing is predictable. Gilmore’s scenes are never rehearsed and her uncertainty and determination shows as she works to achieve her goal. The unrehearsed methodology mimics real life, talking about the obstacles that women face in the corporate and private world, where the outcome is never predictable.

We are made acutely aware of Gilmore’s femininity throughout her performances. She is always in a demure skirt or dress; wearing heels that often aid in kicking through the plaster walls she puts up. Her outfit is completed with bright colored lipstick and dainty black gloves. Although her femininity is not heightened to extreme measures, we are certain that we are watching the struggles of a female in society.

Her motifs, such as breaking through plaster walls and climbing up wooden planks on roller skates speak to insurmountable obstacles facing women in the workplace and society. The beauty of the work is Gilmore’s ability to approach the challenge without resentment, going head on to achieve the goal. And sometimes, but not all the time, she comes out a winner.

With Open Arms


In this video, made in 2005, Gilmore stands in front of the camera with her arms wide open. She grins at us with a forced, exaggerated smile and a flower in her hair while unseen enemies hurl tomatoes at her overdressed figured and star studded background.

The tomatoes look like they sting Gilmore’s skin as she stands ready and waiting for the attack and she often has to lower her arms and cover her face to wipe the remnants of the red flesh from her face.

The act is one of endurance. How much pain can she withstand, smiling and open armed before she starts yelling and screaming at the enemies behind the camera? Patience in the face of pain is the most prominent feature of this particular video. And it is so clearly a feminine patience. She stands in front of us with her dress stained red and smiles, waiting for it out so she can win.

Kelly Mark: I Really Should.

I love the statement "I really should." There's a moment in Sex and the City where Carrie says "why are we shoulding all over ourselves?" The should implies an entanglement with something we are not in control of. But here, Mark is taking control, talking about all of the proper things she should do but doesn't. She is not a lady. She is an individual, selfish at times. Brave and independent in others. I wish I could hear the whole piece.

In my sounds pieces (which I have yet to upload to the web) I am working with the statements "I wish I wanted to" and "I didn't."

But I don't play the power position in either of the pieces. In both of my works, what I wish for and against and what I didn't do are in control. What I didn't do says far more about me then what I did do and what I wish I wanted inevitably will be what I get, whether I wanted it our not. I am bent towards the system and away from myself.

http://www.kellymark.com/IRS_CD.html

The Disney Princess meets the modern woman.

But where is the middle?

This images are my first step towards talking about the princess and the real live fleshy, female body. At first I was taking out all the features of the Princess, replacing them with my own. but as my process evolved, I realized the growing duality in the expectation and obligations of the Princess. In my newer images, I am focusing on her interactions with her "subjects." She keeps her smile, but obtains my eyes. Her smile is her way of getting what she wants. My eyes are the reality of the situation.. being, the same things that liberate her also cage her in.

The Ballerina and Her TuTu

The search for herself. from Whitney Warne on Vimeo.

Ballerina Stop Motion: Bad Quality

Untitled from Whitney Warne on Vimeo.

i made this video at the beginning of the quarter. The quality is really low and the ideas are quite rudimentary, but it's the basis for what I've continued to work on this quarter.

Ballerina Production Stills

Is it possible that the things that give us power also keep us restrained? Does the use of feminine beauty to get ahead also create a world where beauty is commodified and turned against those who don't have high amounts of the desired good?

I'm employing the societal models of the ballerina and the princess to talk about the slightly outmoded, but still very present "feminine ideal."

As a society, we can say that we are post-postmodern, that beauty is no longer currency and that playing by the rules only gets you so far, but that is only half the story and a naive one at that. What if playing by the rules gets you exactly the attention you were looking for. What if playing by the rules of femininity is rewarding?

Characters like the ballerina and the princess play by the rules to get their stories to turn out perfectly. But while they are getting what they want, are they not also captives of their "good girl" disguise? This duality of captivity and reward based on beauty and good girl actions is what I'm am working to visually represent.