POSTERS:   While working on this exhibition I decided to print only 5 posters since the town of Oudtshoorn are annually bombarded with posters from a wide variety of productions.  I also didn’t want to leave a paper trail.

OUTFITS:  Since I love ‘dressing up’ I used what I had available in my closet:  lovely vintage dresses (mostly gifts from friends who knows me well) gloves, wigs, feather boas, hats and face paint.  We stayed during the festival quite a distance from the exhibition venue, but I wanted to walk every morning each day dressed up differently – I wanted to be a walking poster:

DAY 1:  le freak

DAY2:  the princess

DAY3:  the soldier

DAY4: the witch

DAY5:  goldilocks was actually a mouse

DAY6:  the blown up rubber doll

DAY7:  the clown

and for the final day: Until death do us part:

While walking around I handed out some cookies, and these cookies were given to all that entered my rubber kingdom (venue) which made it easier for me to start a conversation.

COOKIES: Initially I wanted fortune cookies with the words:  “Your dearest wish will soon come true, or not, it’s only up to you”.   These words was inspired by a real fortune cookie that I bought on my way to my first solo exhibition:  Siembamba, let’s play pretend” in Cape Town 2004.

I contacted a chef at a local restaurant, we decided that fortune cookies or toffee apples are way too intensive for this project at this stage and in the end we decided on red star shaped cookies (almost like a wishing star).

THE VENUE:  The red colour of the cookie linked nicely with the red carpet I rolled out each morning and the red of the rocking chairs.  Red carpets, rocking chairs and the ticking of a grandfather clock remind me of fairytales. I had a bit of a hiccup since I couldn’t find a real grandfather clock, but luckily a computer whizz at the local DVD rental shop gave me a cd with the sound.  So every hour the visitors was greeted with a DONG!

I never imagined the positively enthusiastic response I would get from the above, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute!  I’ll post some installation photos a bit later.  Watch this space for details.