An artists love letter to the cow from “you’re more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark”.

The images were captured while using an infrared remote shutter in the artist's hand while she attempts to both balance and idle on the rock shelf beside the ocean while also activating the mechanical mechanism of the cow skull exoskeleton above her through the unicycle at sunrise. The performance itself including the act of its documentation is a collaboration between the artist's body, light, the landscape, the mechanical exoskeleton, the unicycle and the camera. The exoskeleton’s jaw and gears have been hand-cast from recycled ocean plastics collected by the artist. The skull is that of a cow skull and the hair is human.

Dumaresq has then combined their spit and blood with chemiluminescent chemicals to write lyrics to a favourite punk love song and leave kisses on the print. The viewer is invited to discover these messages with a UV torch.

“ I am interested in the relationship between the sublime and rebellion being at the heart of what it is to be “Punk.” This came from a conversations I had with friends about whether the Romantic Painters were the first actual punks because they chose to defy the Industrial Revolution by turning instead to the natural world, the landscape and the unquantifiable. To view the print as a whole the viewer must either share the experience with others also holding a torch or accept that they will only glimpse moments of the print's contents at once.”

The performance itself “The Punk Rock Idle” is a play on the two words “idol” and “idle.” Playing with the idea of what it is to balance and capture a still moment from that of a whole?

During the performance I was assisted with the help of my two dear friends Emma Rani Hodges and Bridget Grace.

Punk, Romantic was the name of my debut solo exhibition and corresponding body of work that was presented at Platform - Canberra (previously known as CCAS Manuka) in December 2024 - https://www.canberracontemporary.com.au/ccas-manuka-2024/sophie-dumaresq-punk-romantic

The exhibitions text

“LEARNING TO GO SLOW

The Uncanny and the Audacious in the art of Sophie Dumaresq” is by world renowned performance artist Stelarc.

“We inhabit an age of the digital and the algorithmic. But this is not simplistically the realm of the computational and of the virtual. The multimedia, interdisciplinary and performative projects of Sophie Dumaresq are about a personal sensibility that combines the human, the animal and the machinic in permutations and combinations that are uncanny and surreal.”

If you would like to read a copy of the full text please ask me directly