| I WILL JUMP FIRST
Performance / Video, broadcast online in 2012 "I Will Jump First" is an act of courage, creativity and kindness. It is an attempt by Amae to act in support of both an individual and a group of people. "I Will Jump First" is an embodiment of a significant decision. The decision was made by a singular person, Gaia, to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Amae underwent the tattoo to demonstrate that such a decision is possible without trauma and the action was intended as a therapeutic effort, not saying, but doing. A matched action. Initiated by the notion that queer theory today has to be about awareness of diversity and carry a sense of care for that, "I Will Jump First" is not about sex and gender or physical pain - it's about the existential pain of a person struggling to reconcile with their identity. Originally broadcast online in October 2012 from the wood workshop in the Birmingham School of Art as part of a Masters degree in Queer Studies in Arts and Culture. Amae's "I Will Jump First" sees a coloured tattoo representing a female reproductive system inscribed onto the artist's body. In performing this action with ease and love, Amae hopes that Gaia and many like her may find their leap into their identity a little easier, and a little less solitary. (AMAE) |
AMAE, COLLECTIVE
GB AMAE as a collaborative singularity, AMAE focuses on the tensions generated in marginalised bodies by heteronormative society. Amae's research contaminates traditional languages of art communication (poetry, video, sound, photography, installation, performance) with mass media via photographic works and performances, which are often broadcast live on the web. Working on international platforms across the EU, AMAE focuses on intersubjectivity and transfer in performance art; inheritance and mimicry of behaviour; mimicry against emulation; identification and conflict; primary society and contemporary society; time and space of assimilation of empathetic behaviours; behaviours towards otherness; transient bodies; augmented reality.As well as photographic works and performances which are often broadcast on the web, since 2002 Amae has stood out internationally in the video and performance domain: Videoakt Loop09 (Barcelona, 2009); Hackney Wicked Festival (London, 2007); The Eyes Are the Objects (Hong Kong, 2005); M.O.N.A. International Video Festival (Detroit, 2005), performances and poetry. Amae's research recently approached Queer theory with a group of works developed with the support of Birmingham City University. The works explore the theory of the Self, the perception of sexuality and the therapeutic influence of art in the construction of identity. |