Orlan is my new hero. :) Her lecture at the art gallery last night was fantastic. I felt so rejuvenated and inspired afterwards. She pushes all my creative and intellectual and feminist buttons.

Her lecture was basically a run-through of her performance art from the last three decades. She showed images and spoke about the philosophy behind her work and what she’s trying to do with it. She spoke in French, with an interpreter. Her speech was written down, so Orlan would read a bit, and then it would be translated. (good, because it gave me time to scribble down some notes - that I’d like to type up at some point, before I forget it all.

She uses her own body in her art - her most famous and controversial was the series The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan, where she underwent cosmetic surgery, was conscious for the entire thing, filmed it and broadcast it around the world. Her aim is to challenge standards of beauty and push the boundaries of what our culture says is appropriate for our bodies. She’s also concerned with questioning and breaking down binaries - real/artificial, good/evil, body/mind, etc.

(oh, i’m totally not doing her work, nor her lecture justice. I’ll try this again when I have my notes in front of me) :)

Lets just say I found the entire lecture engaging, challenging and profound. I was captivated for the entire 1.5 hours. So glad I went!

Some other Orlan links:
~ This one has some images of her surgery performances. (possibly NSFW)
~ The wikipedia page about her.

Thanks to Meredith Jones, of Marrickvillia for organising the event.