After carefully reading the Narcissus and Echo poem written by Ted Hughes, I have come up with another idea in how to incorporate the poem into the performance.
Firstly, the poem explains the idea of how the image of narcissus reflected in the water is one that he believes to be perfect and how he falls in love with this perfected reflection. If I’m using selfies as a primary basis, how could I possibly create this concept of perfection when it comes to imagery? Well I initially thought about actually dissecting the poem out of linear order because I feel that there isn’t any order in which the words are written necessarily.
For my performance, I want to use the idea of a ‘perfect imperfection’ (not to reference a lyric in the John Legend song) when it comes to image. For instance, i thought about saying different paragraphs of the poem in non-linear order and the idea that when it comes to the end of the performance, my image has somehow transitioned from perfection to a shadow of perfection. A kind of transitioned selfie video that has become a modernized occurrence of Dorian Gray of some kind.
For now i have been experimenting buy taking random selfies each day to reflect on the idea that taking too many selfies is allegedly linked to narcissistic behavior. But i feel that there is a empty hole that could be filled using a distorted or unusual means of performing that very idea…