Sore Performance, 2016, 10 minutes, Loughborough University Art Studios

The performer entered into the performance space with the audience surrounding a lone stall. I sat down on the stall and applied mud to my arm. Once the arm was covered I scrubbed my arm for with a sponge. Even when there was no visible mud I keep scrubbing even when the arm began to become red and bleeding. It begins a comical cleaning of mud and then becomes a masochistic process of damaging the skin. The audience find it humorous at first watching me apply the mud to my clean arm. Then become uncomfortable when watching my arm become redder and blood started to appear. The audience experience a tipping point from a playful performance to a masochistic one. They are hooked by the playful nature of the performance but also every person has an internal interest in watching someone inflict pain on themselves as a form of escapism, making them feel better about their own life and also pity, even sorrow upon the inflictor.