In November 2007 I crawled on my stomach with a reconstructed field of grass on my back along Toronto’s Queen Street West from Soho Street to Spadina Avenue. I then crawled backwards. After two hours I had to give up. It was painful and tiring. The performance video Penance is intended to represent a bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation for the guilt of environmental destruction. I see this act as half serious and half ridiculous.
Reconstructing the body piece out of grass gleaned from the countryside was itself a reflective act. Agnès Varda’s beautiful film The Gleaners and I was an inspiration for the gleaning process. The Penance video moves back and forth between the agonizing performance, the bewildered response of onlookers, and contemplative scenes of gleaning grass in the countryside. The experience of being in fields inspired the “Lament” painting series. The public response seemed to be mixed between considerable curiosity, confusion, indifference and hysterical laughter.
This body of work was created while using The 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize.
Credits
Artist & Performer: Gareth Bate
Grass Body Construction: Gareth Bate
Street Filming: Saglara Kitchikova
Studio & Country Filming: Gareth Bate
Editing: Gareth Bate
Street Still Photography: Carolyn Dinsmore, Saglara Kitchikova
Studio Still Photography: Gareth Bate
Country Still Photography: Gareth Bate, Carolyn Dinsmore
Special Thanks: Georgina Neville, John Brown