Hershman and Newman: Staged Documentation

Lynn Hershman’s performance work reminded me of Hayley Newman’s “Connotations,” and while I was reading about Hershman’s 9 year performance project about Roberta Breitmore, I wondered if the two artists had ever collaborated. I assumed that they must, at least, know about each other’s work. While I couldn’t find any information about the two artists collaborating on any project, I thought about the similarities and differences between these two artists.

 

The most intriguing similarity that I find between Hershman and Newman’s work is that the staged nature of their photographs create an authentic subject. Hershman’s performance character, Roberta, was photographed many times, and as Glenn Kurtz mentioned in his text, “Roberta is “real” because these documents make her seem so” (Kurtz 117). Hershman goes into detail on her website revealing the construction of this fake character by having bank statements and identification all in Roberta’s name. Roberta put an advertisement in the newspaper for a roommate, went to a psychiatrist, and went on various “adventures.” As Kurtz mentions in his text, the photographs that “documented” Roberta’s life were staged, although Roberta did in fact perform these various live events.  “…the staging of Roberta Breitmore was unannounced. These images document real events that were – in a social sense – fictional” (Kurtz 117). In this fashion, Hershman complicates the distinction between the real and staged event.

 

Hayley Newman also draws this indistinct line in her work “Connotations,” by focusing on the performance of staged events. By bringing her unaccomplished performance ideas into existence, Newman stages her performances for the camera, “documenting” what appears to be a “true” performance. In staging and documenting these fake events, Newman is inherently creating a new performance of staged performance.

 

A physical, but perhaps not conceptual, difference between the two artists’ work is the final presentation of the photographs. Hershman manipulated the photos by painting and/or mixing various mediums directly onto the surface of the photograph. Kurtz suggests that, “the image here carries its response inherently in its presentation medium; photography has not been subordinated but incorporated in a mélange that complicates the representational space.” (Kurtz 118). Newman displays her photos along with text, but the text is not written directly onto the photos. Both artists’ images are created with a mixture of practices, including drawing, painting, written text, and, inherently, performance. This “mélange” does not lessen the images as photographs, but perhaps places the work of these two artists in what Kurtz calls a different “representational space,” a space that exceeds the traditional “boundaries” of photography to include these other practices.  

*Photos taken from the artists' website.