Grapefruit by Yoko Ono

Presented by Zoe Dougherty

Yoko Ono: A Portrait

Yoko Ono is a performance based activism artist, whose work is based in mischievous and humorous nature while addressing issues involving real world topics ranging from war to the public perception of art as a whole. Her art garnered attention from avant-garde art movements, such as the Fluxus movement, and even beloved member of The Beatles John Lennon, whom she later married in 1969.

Grapefruit

Ono’s piece titled Grapefruit, published in 1964, is a small instruction manual with small tasks for the reader to accomplish either on their own or with two or more people, varying in levels of different realities. The reader is urged to use their imagination for each task in order to complete it, these tasks themselves are crafted to be performance-esque in both real life and one’s imagination. Grapefruit probes the human mind by nudging what we know a bit further, such as one of Ono’s true or false questions in this book, “The sixth finger is usually not used because its existence is not physically perceivable”. This is an obvious statement as there is no sixth finger on a singular five finger hand, however its imaginative existence is acknowledged and is therefore given the readers permission to be a part of the mindful artistic work that they create. This is performance art in the sense that the artist is not performing, but the viewer is performing. Whether the viewer seeks to make these tasks a reality, it will simply be a step further as they already have made a successful artwork simply by applying their creativity and imagination.

Bloody Banner

This banner was derived from the article Dirty Words: Interesting, more specifically the term “…eyes bleed.” The specificity of eyes bleeding felt very frightening, as it threatens one of our vulnerable senses. Blood in general is a sensitive substance and the act of using that word in a phrase evokes feelings of vulnerability, as it is a source of life. Bleeding for something is meant to represent sacrifice in the highest degree with your body, giving yourself in every possible way.

The goal in this banner was to threaten, command, motivate, and/or weaken the viewer by giving them a bold and blunt request. It urges the viewer to look into their own vulnerability, dreams, and desires with what could start and end it all, the act of bleeding.

Post-Internet: The Uncanny Valley

Having unsolicited access to the internet could be one of the most dangerous aspects of a child’s development, the trauma that can be caused with one mere image is a terrifying thought. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky to avoid such media, one of the core roots of fear I feel comes from images or perceptions of people that look human but are just a little bit off. This is known as the “Uncanny Valley”, in which something will have features of a person but as a human ourselves, we cannot accept it to genuinely be a human like us.

The faces above are examples of this phenomena spread out across the internet, they have features of a human but there is either an exaggeration or some small misplacement that makes the human appearance inhuman. They have been taken from either mugshots, sketches, androids, or dreams, to further explain, there is a graph that describes the Uncanny Valley in a visual context.

Uncanny Video

The video above provides various clips plucked from Youtube that show human connection to robots. I wanted to capture the sentimentality of human connection in contrast with the soulessness of the cold androids. The compilation is meant to show how we, as humans, can’t help but have that draw to keep pushing the limits of technology, to the point where we play God and try to recreate it, essentially becoming parents to A.I.

The video was extremely LoFi, so combined with the uncanny valley imagery of the Androids and the nurturing and loving touches and gazes of the humans there is a small terrifying feeling of longing for man-made connection that we may never achieve and yet try so hard to create.

This video contains a series of clips with Nancy Dougherty (my mother) simply existing during her morning routine. You will notice that Nancy rarely leaves the corner of the couch or the side of the table during her morning coffee and breakfast, establishing an unconscious routine. Within the confines of this ritual, small sparks of Nancy’s personality shine through the mundane. This includes loud booming laughter, random exclamations (“Oh my god” after taking a sip of coffee), and picking food off of her shirt to eat. Although there could be more clips included, what is shown is an intimate look at an everyday lifestyle romanticized by the quirks of a loved one.

Tattoo Party (Royal Family in the modern day)

Tattoos are a wonderful way to express one’s self, art on the body is precious and vibrant. I was interested in the idea of text on the body with current day slang associated with royalty. The terms I chose were “Short King”, which a man would be called if he were fairly short compared to the societal norm of a 6ft person. “Trauma Queen”, which is a play on words of “drama queen” but emphasizing the acknowledged trauma of our current generation. Finally, “Passenger Princess”, which is the title of a person who often rides in the passenger seat of a car while someone else drives rather than driving the car themselves. These terms provide a sense of humour and have the bearer of the tattoo control its power. Whether the terms be demeaning or empowering, they make the owner royalty.