Losing Ground
Losing Ground is a video performance by Patty Chang. Chang, struggles to stand and balance on a green lawn as she uses her body to represent the limits.
Artist: Patty Chang
Medium: Video Performance Date: 2000 http://vimeo.com/26830987
Background
Chang uses the female representation from art history, as Losing Ground alludes to Andrew Wyeth’s painting, Christina’s World (1948). [1] Wyeth’s realist painting illustrates a woman lying on an empty lawn looking towards the gray sky and the isolated home. The woman was known to be Anna Christina Olson. She suffered from Polio as her lower body was paralyzed. [2] Depicted in Christina’s World, she cannot physically reach the house, as she is stranded in the field.
Chang too portrays a similar struggle. However, her environment physically prevents her from succeeding where as in Christina’s World, it is an internal and bodily battle.
Summary and Narrative
Chang is situated in a suburban neighbourhood yard amongst the blue skies and scattered clouds. She is dressed in a white blouse, a red skirt and heels. The video is shot from below where the camera is located in the grass fully capturing unsteady movements.[3] As Chang repetitively stumbles on the grass, her long black hair sways back and forth violently every time she takes a step. The grass too, vibrates in waves depicting the instability.
Along with the video, the sounds incorporated do not equate to the suburban environment. Instead, the viewer hears a top of waterbed or inflatable mattress when Chang seeks for equilibrium.[4] The sounds applied, append to her struggles but also, forces the viewer to think of why she may be losing her balance and to question what is going on. “Is the woman sick, or just plain drunk? Is it an earthquake?" [5]
Influences
Losing Ground has the effects of disorientating and dream like scene. The viewer is left with an unclear notion between what is reality and fiction. Alternatively, he/she is mesmerized by the worrying and disturbing performance. Chang achieves such effect by the medium of her own body. The use of her body was influenced and inspired by Maraina Abramovic, Vito Acconci, and Chris Burden.[6] All of these performance artists used their bodies as a from to defy what was acceptable.
References
- ↑ Guggenheim Patty Chang http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/10728
- ↑ Guggenheim Patty Chang http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/10728
- ↑ Johnson Museum of Art http://museum.cornell.edu/collections/view/losing-ground.html
- ↑ Johnson Museum of Art http://museum.cornell.edu/collections/view/losing-ground.html
- ↑ Johnson Museum of Art http://museum.cornell.edu/collections/view/losing-ground.html
- ↑ Johnson Museum of Art http://museum.cornell.edu/collections/view/losing-ground.html
Wiki Author
Bo Ha 2014