Bonita Ely - SLIP SLAP
Performance for Sydney Biennale’s Art After Dark program, 1/6/22
SET UP
The Menindee Fish Kill photograph was on a flat screen behind my performance setup. Lisa Roberts put it through a video program so that it undulates as if live.
Bath with warm water & bubble bath. A stool with 2 hazmat overalls; towel; dressing gown; bowl of shells on a doily; bath mat; chair with cushion.
With my phone in hand playing Bobby Daren’s song, Splish Splash, as I dance through the audience to the bath, wearing the Menindee Fish Kill paisley patterned dress.
I stepped into the bath & shrunk back in horror as it was filled with disgusting plastic trash from the Cooks River.
I picked up the yucky objects, played around with some and threw them on the floor. Some landed in the audience, I carefully cleaned some bits & put them aside for recycling - children's toys, a bowl.
When I'd removed most of the objects. I expressed relief (body language) but decided to put on a hazmat overall before getting back into the bath, explaining the water was now polluted with micro plastics.
I hauled plastic sheets, bags and netting out of the bubbly bath water, wrapping them round my neck, over my shoulders.
Stepping out of the bath I laid the strips down on the floor..
Despair …
I loop red & white hazard tape around the polluted bathtub.
O.H.&S.
I draw a large fish on the floor with the strips.
Sorrow …
l throw a hazmat into the middle of the fish.
In despair, I lie down on the hazmat, inside the fish
… rocking back & forth in a foetal position..
End of performance.
Photographers:
Kate McGuinness
Michael Lindeman
Sandy Edwards
Graeme Auchterlonie
Location: the Cutaway, Barangaroo