Yosiry B: WEEKLY SELFIE - SIMPLE ACT OF PERFORMANCE

Yosiry Beltre, "Shut up, I'm Just Right!" October 2024

Description: This performance piece is me "kicking" a mirror that has "Too Much" written on it. This performance piece is to represent my experience as a woman of color, being told that I was either too big, dark, loud, quiet, ambitious, not ambitious enough, etc etc. Pretty much society keeps trying to force women like me to shrink up and shrivel away like a bad tomato, but I'm not about that so I'm rebelling by giving society the metaphorical boot. 

 Widewalls | Yoko Ono - A Groundbreaking Artist, Activist and Fighter

Quote 1: "Staged in 1964, one of her most famous works was the Cut Piece, where the members of the audience were invited to cut off pieces of her clothing until she was naked, thus making an abstract commentary on discarding materialism and its impact on society."

Response: I have my own interpretation of that performance art after seeing pictures, which is how society has normalized the humiliation and servitude of women. Although Yoko does express consent to having her clothes cut up, I believe that stripping someone publicly, especially by destroying personal property, has to require some sort of disconnect from the person's humanity. 

Quote 2: "Her idea that physical presence of the artist could communicate far more forcefully than a mediated representation influenced generations of future artists."

Response: I think that the presence of an artist adds a more personal touch that makes an art piece more powerful than an impersonal subject. 

Hispanic Executive | Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy

Quote 1: "Somehow, I [don’t] recall ever being dissuaded [by the fact] that those “masters” were all dead white men. I found myself seeing these “great artworks” and believing I could achieve that."

Response: It's important as non "traditional" (aka: non-WASP, non-male) artists that we don't feel intimidated or dissuaded by the fact that the "best" artists are typically white men from hundreds of years ago. 

Quote 2: "Through this workshop process, we looked at what a contemporary reinterpretation of those freedoms could be through the lives of those community members. And the result was a series of narratives where these participants spoke about how they believed freedom was afforded, or not, but also about the ways in which we embody those narratives."

Response: Freedom isn't the same way for everyone, and life has shown me that. For example, living in a country that isn't under the threat of war feels like an expectation but for others, it's a freedom that's often taken for granted. 

Khan Academy Performance Art An Introduction webpages

Performance Art 1

Gordon Matta-Clark, Splitting, 1974

Response: I could never imagine taking a house and literally cutting it in half because that would take a huge amount of time. But the artist is more dedicated than me and I appreciate that because this is a very creative piece. 

Performance Art 2

Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Duncan Terrace Piano Destruction Concert: The Landesmans’ Homage to “Spring can really hang you up the most,” 1966

Response: We often forget that art doesn't always have to be a creation, destruction is also a type of art style. This piece feels iconic especially considering it was done in the 60s, which was a time of great change but when it came to art a lot of things still had that cookie cutter energy from the 50s. My interpretation of this piece is that it represents a chaotic homelife, because of the window.