OMG you guys, it’s Soban! Remember from the Cougarliscious party back at the start of this project?! He was one of the strangers who turned up and did the Dayna Quiz show that the Secret Committee staged who came ever so close to winning! Wow!
This all happened at the Meow Mix Retrospective at Rats Gallery downtown. This is me doing a Gigi Lamour impression in front of her portrait by Sasha Brunelle at the vernissage, ready for my close-up.
The cub thinks this should be my study chair. Spotted on Mont Royal.
Victoria sighting sent from my sister: “On way to meeting in cab with coworker.”
Day 222 in the washroom (surprise surprise) at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema for Tom Waugh’s class, The Sexual Revolution in Quebec Cinema, 1963 to 1980. After class, a woman said that she liked my outfit, and I immediately came out about my project of wearing animal print every day for a year, whereas yesterday I did not. Funny that, 95%
As I write this, Dayna has completed 221/365 days of her Cougar For a Year project. I am in no way a “fashionista” and when I began snapping photos for Cougar Sightings, I had no idea how popular animal prints are. I quickly realized that this was a much larger phenomena than I ever imagined. I have gone from taking photos of every animal print I encounter to being more selective. At first I photographed clothing that was for sale, but that is such an easy target that I rarely do it now, unless it it something exceptional. Sometimes I shoot from afar, sometimes I shoot from the car. Often I ask permission and give a vague explanation that a Montreal artist I know collects images of animal print clothing for an art project. I am surprised at how willing strangers are to let me take their photograph. I give them the option of recognizable face or not. Most often they don’t mind their face being exposed.
This batch of photos was taken from the end of the summer of 2012 until January 2012. The photos have been taken while walking, visiting and shopping with my mother, driving, watching TV, going to the doctor and attending events, such as Calgary’s first Nuit Blanche, the Calgary International Film Festival’s gala opening, Banff Wordfest, La Nostalgia Remix: Solid Gold performance, ACADFA Pizza Party and a 100th birthday celebration.
By the way my mother is 89 and has just become “friends” with an 84 years old man in her apartment building. She probably doesn’t know what a “cougar” is, but perhaps she is one.
Day 221 at McGill, continuing my washroom tour. I am still waiting on paperwork to ensure that I can take a class with Amelia Jones, which I attended today. After class, a woman who sat next to me asked if I knew Kate Craig’s work. At first, I did not recognize the name, but once my classmate mentioned Kate’s persona Lady Brute who wore much leopard print, I remembered her instantly. As Jayne Wark mentions in “Dressed to Thrill: Costume, Body, and Dress in Canadian Performance Art” in Tanya Mars & Johanna Householder’s “Caught in the Act: An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women” (2004), Lady Brute “took the leopard spot as her defining symbol” as did Dr. Brute, the persona of Craig’s then collaborative partner and husband, Eric Metcalfe who applied the leopard spot to all of his creations including his kazoo-saxophone. This was the early 70s.
In 1974, after their collaboration ended, Kate Craig performed The Flying Leopard in which she wore a winged leopard costume fitted with a harness that she shuttled down a cable that was “rigged from the hull of a beached freighter to a tree on the shore over the beach in Dollarton” outside of Vancouver. She put her leopard clad persona away in “Skins” a performance for video with Hank Bull in 1975 which I would love to get my hands on (the previous quote is also from Caught in the Act, only this time it’s Karen Henry’s look at Craig’s work in, “Kate Craig: Living in Character”).
Another classmate asked me in the hallway if I had made a film with a ball-gag and Mary Poppins. Yes, yes I did and you can watch it here.
I know, I know. This shirt amplifies my muffin top and looks like maternity wear, 95%
Day 220 pyjama detail. Took today off, 95%
Day 219 home and in pjs all day. Got home late last night, slept in and am now watching the Bourne Identity series with the cub in new pjs that my Mom gave me and a new pink robe that the cub’s sister gave me for Xmas, 95%
A friend sent me this of her son in what I am assuming is a gaming dressing gown. “Jealous much????” was the subtitle. The answer is “sometimes.”