The piece is based on educational text that was on display next to Gwen John’s painting Nude Girl in Tate Britain Gallery in January 2010.
The performance was designed to be seen by one audience member at a time. I was performing to the camera in one room and one audience member was watching this performance in another room via TV monitor and headphones. In the beginning of the performance I introduced myself, explained where the text I was about to read was from, and then read the text (the quote above). After I had finished reading the text, I took off the dress I was wearing and posed in a similar fashion, covering my lower body, to the model in Gwen John’s painting Nude Girl. I was holding the same still position for three minutes. When the time was over I walked off the picture and closed the camera. I had an assistant giving me sound cues when the audience member was ready to watch the TV monitor, and when the agreed interval had passed. I didn’t know if the audience member was watching the whole performance or not.