H.Newman
The Volcano Lady :
Mildmay Club, London; Hayward Gallery, London and British School at Rome, Rome, 2004 - 2006.
Performance. Duration: 10 minutes.
While I was the Helen Chadwick Arts Council of England Fellow at the British School at Rome, I made a series of studio photographs and a performance in a costume designed to resemble an erupting volcano. Interested in the erotic status of Vesuvius (one of the final destinations of The Grand Tour, the precursor of tourism) I commissioned an erupting volcano costume.
Designed to invert; while I stand upright the top of the garment represents superheated gas and ash billowing from the cone of a volcano. As I do a headstand, I reveal red tights and flamed underskirts that resemble lava flow.
A video of this work has been made by Katherine Araniello, an extract can be found on her site.
