<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/art</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-04-26</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5aba19882b6a28f01f7301a9/1522145735766/DESERT.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Accidental Desert Action</image:title>
      <image:caption>There’s a story to this picture.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5aba18ed03ce64c09d47e04a/1522145627594/Pretty-Fly.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Pretty Fly</image:title>
      <image:caption>This little video piece sits in a very small cupboard, hung on a wall. The video is looped and the sound track is a child’s song (from the movie ‘Night of the Hunter’). It was shot on location in Death Valley Junction (location of the movie ‘Lost Highway’), next to the haunted motel. The figure multiplies and drifts in and out of the image as the dust and smoke engulf her. Song by Walter Schumann (from soundtrack of The Night of the Hunter)</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5aba18910e2e723b8ebe83ed/1522145491425/venice.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Venice Walk</image:title>
      <image:caption>This series of six stills were taken from an hour long video, shot by Julia Defferary as she followed me walking through Venice one evening in June 2000. The camera stays on my feet, pursuing me throughout. The images are mounted and hung on the wall as a series Size each still 12 x 8 “</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5aba1a2403ce64c09d47fe38/1522145839568/slide6.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Still</image:title>
      <image:caption>The project ‘Still’ is a series of six colour photographic prints, each 1 x 1 metres. It depicts six very different performances remade for the camera. The images are unframed and hung using clips. The arrangement of the images around the space is flexible, subject to the demands of the venue. Based on performances drawn from my body of work, the images recreate the image of the performance but in a different context. The pictures are not documentation, rather they are new images staged specifically for the camera, for the blink of the shutter. When I make a work, I start with an image. Sometimes that image is realised as a performance, or as a film, an object or even through sound or words. I recreate that imagined image through the work. The images in ‘Still’ are a response to the tension between two ideas: that one single image can represent an entire performance or that a performance can encapsulate a single image. I attempt to inhabit the image and in doing so I deliberately set up a confrontation between the performed action and the stilled moment. Then the photographer directs and decides when to press the shutter. The photographs are a collaboration between performance artist Anita Ponton and photographer Flip Wibbly Jelly</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92a73aa4a99a97188a368/1522084519506/Thatch.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Remembering Margaret</image:title>
      <image:caption>Video &amp; sound Remembering Margaret Thatcher.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92d7c88251b9c242ead55/1522085432717/Scratchzone-pic-2.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Scratchzone</image:title>
      <image:caption>Super 8 film (Digital edit) This film is one of my earliest attempts at digitally editing Super 8 footage from old family movies. In this work, I began editing the film footage to a sound piece that I had been working on. Immediately, this gave the footage an interestingly melancholy edge and I continued to edit equally between the sound and the footage to produce the final result. Duration 6m 08s</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92e6403ce648806780d07/1522085562433/LALA.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Lalalull</image:title>
      <image:caption>Video A short filmed work about surfaces, textures and movement within an urban landscape. Shot entirely on a hand held DV cam for the duration of a single short (but fast) journey on the back of a motorcycle, this film gives a unique perspective of the felt experience of Los Angeles, CA. Riding pillion puts you into a strange space, exposed to the elements and travelling at high speeds, you hang on, you have no control. It’s exhilarating and sometimes terrifying. The way to enjoy the ride on the LA freeways is to sit back, hold on and watch as the landscape rushes past. You can never think of the risk you take. The moments when you stop punctuate the speed and movement and take on an intense quality. The camera, in this instance, sees how it feels to take such a ride. It struggles to focus in as the landscape rushes past, resulting a collision of movement and a constantly changing abstraction of the digital surface of the image. The soundtrack was constructed from sampled sounds and music, reworked, twisted and changed in the edit and with the footage in mind. Once the sound was completed, the visuals were edited to the soundtrack. Duration 5m 27s</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92f7f575d1fd337096bb3/1522943788593/for-doll-parts.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Doll Parts</image:title>
      <image:caption>Soundwork Voices, whispering and repeating, speak of the body’s surfaces. How skin stretches and breaks, how it feels to the touch, skin touching skin… The words are indistinguishable, intended to convey touch rather than meaning. Best listened to while stroking a favourite scar. Duration 3m 07s</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9303af950b759a80f15b1/1522086004144/The-Last-Wild-Horses-of-Death-Valley-e1325082876179+%281%29.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - The Last Wild Horses of Death Valley</image:title>
      <image:caption>I was filming in Death Valley Junction, seeking an empty landscape, when I gained an audience. It turned out I was filming in the territory of the last herd of wild horses in Death Valley, and possibly the whole of California. We watched each other for upwards of 20 minutes, although I ran out of tape after about 10 minutes. This piece is best watched, accompanied by your favourite horse themed music. My preference is to fade in ‘The Last Ride Back to KC’ by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis from the soundtrack album of the film ‘The Assassination of Jesse James’, at around 02m 05s 03f. Copyright restrictions prevent me from using it on Youtube. Hardly a work of art, the piece is more of a contemplation of inter-species observation.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92b26f950b759a80def91/1522084997322/skin.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Skin Two</image:title>
      <image:caption>Video The camera follows the surface of a body, tracing the contours and focussing on the surface. The flesh under the gaze undulates as the camera travels slowly across its surface, almost touching, almost revealing, but not quite. The viewpoint that we have in this piece is something that could only be achieved with a camera because it is used more as an instrument of touch and proximity than as a viewing device. The accompanying soundtrack is comprised of samples directly taken from the video’s ambient soundtrack, reworked to emphasise bodily presence. Duration variable</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92acb1ae6cf640e4f5e88/1522084609544/bleaches.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Bleaches</image:title>
      <image:caption>Super 8 film (Digital edit) A short, sensate work about breaching surfaces. This short abstract and experimental film is a contemplation of mark making and erasure. It is accompanied by a soundtrack that comprises whispering voices, talking of scars and surfaces. It was made using Super 8 film, worked on directly with marks and household chemicals, scoring the surface. It was then transferred to DV. This piece was originally edited for viewing on small screens and hand held devices (phones, iPods, laptops etc), using headphones. Duration 3m 08s</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab90c9570a6ad8579a017b8/1522080026897/deranger-lespace.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Deranger L'Espace</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live durational performance This performance was developed in response to the space and context of the yearly performance event, organized by Paul Gregoire. The site is a beach on the Isles de Madeleine, just off the coast of Quebec, Canada. It is a tiny and very old fishing community and the beaches are lined with small wooden huts. Not dwellings to live in, these constructions were occupied by the wives of the fishermen who would prepare the fish that the men caught. The experiences of these women would have revolved around hard work and waiting for the men to return and of course, there were times when the boats would be lost at sea. The performance was devised here with this history in mind and also in conjunction with the other artists’ actions in the event. In some ways the piece is about being literally tied to the land whilst yearning for that which is lost at sea but it is also about the strength and endurance of the female body and about how the work of women is interactive and relational. Duration approx 2 hours</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab90bf8562fa76d37249d7c/1522078365547/unspoolprint.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Unspool</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live performance with digital video and sound. Melodramatic and deliberately film noir-ish, this performance was premiered at ‘Projet/Projo’, a Studio 303 exhibition/event (production in collaboration with Mai), Montreal, Canada. Much of my work looks at voice, silence and power, through the use of displaced and disordered identities or personae. In this performance, the protagonist (the live performer) is inside her own melodrama talking with fractured versions of her identity, inside her own head, inside her imagination and visualised like an old film. The women, live and recorded, appear to speak but the words have been taken from old movies and reworked into the soundtrack. They are lip-syncing – these are not their own voices yet they seem to be speaking. The voices speak of discomfort, suicide and madness. As the protagonist struggles to keep hold of herself, of her voice, her composure, she is always taken over by a voice that constantly undermines her. Finally the malevolent images fade and she retreats to her original position, pulling the film back over her body until she is hidden once more by the celluloid. Duration 13 minutes</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9166903ce64880672b830/1522083038955/dieslandscape3.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Dies Irae</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live performance The figure is female, dressed in black, long sleeved, high necked top and very full skirt (to just above ankles). No shoes. Her waist is pulled in very tight by a belt. She is suspended by her hair, via a noose attached to a rope and pulley. Just the tips of her toes touch the floor. She is neither on the floor, nor in the air. At all times her hands are open, her eyes do not blink. Seemingly destined to repeat herself over and over, she is exposing the voices in her head, exposing a litany of descriptions that she has taken on for herself, and daring the viewer to watch her and embrace her discomfort.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9133f6d2a734262584c46/1522083038947/still-4.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Still</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live durational performance Nailed to the wall by my hair (pulled back in a long plait), the piece consists of a series of arrested poses, each held for about 10 minutes, for a duration of up to 2 hours. The work tests both the endurance of the artist’s body and the extent to which a moment of performance can be stretched. My intention in this performance is to place assumptions about the female body under scrutiny and pose awkward questions: can we understand the female body in terms of strength &amp; endurance, in terms of dynamism and even aggression? Does the ironic adoption of feminine poses (i.e. passive &amp; available) trouble widely held ideas about how a woman should appear in public? Deliberate display of the female body is often dismissed as narcissistic – can my avowed narcissism be used creatively? Duration approximately 2 hours</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab91719758d460c88a169bf/1522083038957/company1.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Company</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live performance with projection &amp; sound Using video projection and lip sync, the artist dances with her video double. A live figure appears in the centre of the performance space. Projected over her body is an image of her virtual self. The soundtrack has a swaying, hypnotic rhythm and both figures speak, addressing each other and the audience. In the soundtrack, there is a deliberate play with registers of both sound and presence. The electronic voice, the recorded human voice and the live human voice are combined yet obviously existing on separate levels. The live persona intertwines with the virtual one but both insist on being simultaneously present and multiple. Both issue from and return to a single body. Duration 7.5 minutes</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9159e2b6a28bbf5bf56e0/1522083038950/say-something-1-e1323707624295.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Say Something</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live performance with Super 8 projection &amp; Sound A soundtrack plays on hidden speakers. The first section is a rhythmic composition of clicks and grinding sounds, followed by collaged sounds, voices, whispers and music. A Super 8 projector stands approximately 8-10 feet in front of figure. The figure begins by moving her head from side to side, all the time muttering to herself. Her movements expand and she begins to sway in semi circular motion, still gripping chair, all the time muttering. The movement becomes increasingly violent. At a signal her movements stop immediately. She brings her head up, eyes closed, holding still. A Super 8 projection begins – it is an image of an animated face and is projected onto the impassive face of the artist. The movements begin again and the sequence is repeated twice more, changing each time and getting ever more violent. The performance is brought to a halt with an aggressive chorus of “I’ve Written a letter to Daddy’, courtesy of the film ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’ Duration 9.5 minutes</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9189503ce64880673329f/1522083038958/baggageslov4_2.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Baggage</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live performance with sound. Absolute darkness. Centre stage a blue light (from overhead) fades up making a pool of light. A girl sits, poised, composed, still. She is on small white stool and wears a thin dress, high heels and stockings. Her hair is black, cut in a short bob. Facing stage left. Soundtrack begins – a staggered monolgue against a repeating tone. The voice is female, deprecating &amp; mean. The subject matter of the monologue is dark – the voice talks of death, of loss and breakdown. It proposes that the audience see her as being trapped in a kind of limbo, perhaps in the moments between the end of her life and death itself – not so much ‘going into the light’ but rather suspended within the full glare of it. Duration 7.5 minutes</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9162d562fa7a94d177d88/1522083038953/findings-11-copy.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Findings</image:title>
      <image:caption>Place: The Jacobean Undercroft, Greenwich Palace, London. Date: 21.11.2009 A soundscape and a durational performance, are the main components of this work, which has been specially devised for the Jacobean Undercroft, The work is a response to the function and architecture of this ancient underground space, and is concerned with retrieval and reconstruction through action. Viewers could come and go as they pleased. Duration 2-4 hours For the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, as part of the ‘Eagle Document’ exhibition/event</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab915f36d2a73426258e338/1522083038952/Perdut-doc-pic.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Perdut (Lost)</image:title>
      <image:caption>Lost (Perdut – Catalan trans.) Location: Centre Cultural la Merce, Girona, Spain Occasion: 7-8th March 2008, International Women’s Day [Dia Internacional de les Dones] Space: Central area of large cloisters (the building was an old monastery and is now functioning as a cultural centre). Overlooked by two storeys of windows and balconies. People watch from balconies and walkway surrounding cloisters. On one balcony, a projector is positioned – the image hits the ground as a skewed rectangle. Small candles burn in the corners of the space. Performance: A sole female figure occupies the central area of a Cloister space. She marks out 12 areas by placing various objects in the on the ground. Bound tightly at the waist with black ribbon, she is attached to twelve pillars. She sways gently and sings quietly as a video projection plays over her, from above. Surrounding her is evidence of the process and actions that brought her to this point. For Gresol Art, Girona. Duration approx. 2 hours</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9141a6d2a734262587c04/1522083038948/seen-iii-e1324046113551.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Seen. Unsaid</image:title>
      <image:caption>Live performance with sound and video projection. The auditorium is dark – absolute black. A loud sound and then the film flickers up to reveal a lone woman in the light. She is standing stock still, aggressively, clenching her fists. The soundtrack begins. It consists of samples of dialogue, cut from various movies. The performer lip-syncs to the stream of voices, some male, some female, mostly disagreeing with each other. It is as if she cannot help herself – she opens her mouth and the words of others pour out. Trapped by the light, caught up in the voices, she has become a conduit for dismembered and disconnected speech. This is a dark performance, verging on hysterical, in which she plays out her internal melodrama publicly. Duration 9.5 minutes</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab932c203ce648806790753/1522086638553/not-one.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Not One</image:title>
      <image:caption>Video performance for a small screen A woman is joined to herself at the waist. Double headed and lacking legs, she has mutated into a mermaid like creature. She appears to be fighting herself or struggling somehow. At times, she disappears into the white background, only to return, as if fighting for air. The soundtrack is a constant series of gasps and inhalations. She never exhales. Duration 6 minutes. Looped. Inspired by the writings of Luce Irigaray</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9327088251b9c242fcb44/1522086563118/ANITA.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Siren Song</image:title>
      <image:caption>Video performance with sound (based on the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, by Valerie Solanas) Using samples of Solanas’ text and lip-syncing them to the camera, I layered the various performances to create an image intended to recall the Hydra, a monstrous female swamp-beast from Greek myth, with many heads. The Hydra’s destructive anger has been widely depicted as wholly feminine and irrational and, it seemed to me, that it matched the tone of the text. The Sirens lured sailors to their deaths with their beautiful songs. I wanted to introduce an element of beauty to seduce viewers, to sweeten the fury. Duration 2m 30s</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9322b8a922dd94b2e56ad/1522086478350/skinfever2.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Skin &amp; Fever</image:title>
      <image:caption>2 x performances made for video, with sound. To accompany each other, played on monitors. The works are played on 2 identical (large) monitors, set sideways on plinths, placed either side of a doorway/staircase. They are set at approximately head height and each monitor has headphones attached. Each monitor plays a video performance of a single female figure. In both she is miming to a popular song – ‘Fever’ by Peggy Lee and ‘I’ve Got you Under My Skin’ by Frank Sinatra. In the first (Fever) she is hot, perspiring and her eyes water. She lip-syncs deadpan to the camera and gradually her nose begins to bleed, blood seeping into her mouth by the end of the song. On the second (Skin) she scratches at herself constantly throughout the song. She is edgy and anxious. These works were created for a show entitled ‘Contagious’ and make a play with the words of the songs and the title of the show, switching constantly between literal and metaphoric positions. Duration 3 minutes each (looped for presentation) For FA+ at Malmo Museum, Sweden</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9319b03ce64880678c684/1522086346057/twitch.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Zizek Twitch</image:title>
      <image:caption>Video performance for a small screen A woman sits on a chair. She begins to scratch, twitch and fidget. The fidgeting, twitching and scratching gets faster, her movements more frantic. All the time she looks at the viewer. A quiet, clicking clacking soundtrack plays. Duration 4 minutes. Looped. Inspired by a live talk by Slavov Zizek lecture at the Pompidou Centre (2006/7).</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab931e42b6a28bbf5c5a758/1522086416890/thrash2-copy.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Thrash</image:title>
      <image:caption>Performance made for video, with sound. Thrash is a short performance work made for the camera. Aesthetically its concern is with the boundary of the frame and the breakdown of the image surface. In substance it is concerned with the limitations of both the body and ideas about femininity. A woman shakes herself continually as the song Ave Maria plays. Her movements are frantic and contrast with the smooth and mellifluous tones of the music. The sound of her laboured breathing can be heard over the music as she seems to try to shake herself out of herself. Disturbed and disturbing, this performance work attempts to unsettle and complicate an idealised image of femininity through the simple use of technology. Duration 5 minutes (looped for presentation)</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab93325f950b759a80fc3db/1522086740433/happyslap.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art - Happy Slap</image:title>
      <image:caption>Performance made on a mobile phone, for viewing on small screens/handheld devices The work was devised in part as a response to the ‘Happy Slapping’ craze that was sweeping the UK in the mid 2000’s. ‘Happy Slapping’ is a strange phenomenon that has emerged as a result of the flood of cheap mobile phones with cameras. Part Jackass, part slapstick, the action is usually relatively harmless but there is a darker side to this craze. Happy Slapping has been a feature in both rape and murder cases and as such it is now considered by some as encouraging violent tendencies. ‘Happy Slap’ is a little dark, private performance in which I ‘slap my self silly’. The music playing over the top of the work is ‘Is This Love’ from the cartoon version of Cinderella to suggest perhaps that this is an enactment of perverse self-love/violence. Duration 2.5 minutes</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab9296270a6ad8579a68e84/1522084197187/Pretty-Fly.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab92788f950b759a80d1f25/1522083730106/dieslandscape3.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab927ea2b6a28bbf5c36981/1522083827116/skinfever2.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ab928cd6d2a7342625d0f2a/1522084055935/catfilm.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>Art</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/writing</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-03</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad096906d2a73d7d2470fda/1523619543368/P1010408+moon+sky+crop+1.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Writing</image:title>
      <image:caption>Non-Fiction INTRODUCTION This series of essays originated in my doctoral research, undertaken at Goldsmiths College, London (2000-6). Each essay has a different emphasis but together they shape a reading of the contemporary body as performing the self through series of narcissistic gestures, both blissfully consumptive and desperately anxious. The shift from a mechanised, analogue world into a digitised, virtual one is both profound and traumatic. To understand and meet the challenges we face going forward into this brave new immaterial realm, it is I contest, essential to know the path that brought us here. It is also necessary to be aware of the impact that virtuality has on our processes of self-identification. Virtuality changes things. It fundamentally changes our relation to the world. That is not to say that it is all bad but it is to say that awareness of our past and present allows us to actively shape our futures. Losing oneself in the contemplation of our own image, whether you are Kim Kardashian or Narcissus, can be dangerous. Losing touch with corporeality even more so. However, by drawing popular culture and looking at the pleasures we obtain in frequently extreme manifestations of our drives, in art, literature and cinema, it is possible to navigate a course through these technologically infested waters and create a new and expanded understanding of our millennial selves. Finally, sovereignty means being in control of the ‘Off’ switch. If we want to shape our futures and understand who we are in the face of ‘artificial intelligence’ then knowing when to press it will be crucial.</image:caption>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad096368a922de8df7b2b60/1523619398335/astonishing+sky+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Writing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad08c5770a6adbfd88f579f/1523616868059/astonishing+sky+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Writing</image:title>
    </image:image>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad08cb60e2e72f68a411649/1523616975598/P1010408+moon+sky+crop+1.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Writing</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/anita-ponton</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-04-13</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/about</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-04-02</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ac231d0f950b77ed2869fb5/1522676267505/APportrait2.png</image:loc>
      <image:title>About</image:title>
      <image:caption>Photography by Flip Wibbly Jelly © 2018</image:caption>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/contact</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-04-02</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/moving-pictures-roving-eyes</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad09206f950b750de9176d6/1523618321104/normahand+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Moving Pictures &amp; Roving Eyes</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/the-letter</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad0911c70a6adbfd88fcb95/1523618101283/IMG_2186+light+sky+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>The Letter</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/marta</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad091641ae6cf72ec2cc2f9/1523618174186/IMG_2158+marta+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Marta</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/a-boys-progress</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad091b6562fa7b8c90cb28c/1523618238868/barth_fair+cropped.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>A Boy's Progress</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/au-lecteur</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad0924f8a922de8df7ace58/1523618393126/hclose+untouched.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Au Lecteur</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/lovebits</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad092db1ae6cf72ec2ceb48/1523618530460/normaneye+no+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Lovebites</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/public-bodies-private-spaces</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad0949703ce64b96acc366c/1523619019085/IMG_2908+screens+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Public Bodies, Private Spaces</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/me-myself-i</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad0951a562fa7b8c90d04b1/1523619197313/normamirror+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Me, Myself, I - Me, Myself, I</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/metamorphs</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad0959403ce64b96acc4d31/1523619229056/metalmorph6+no+crop.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Metamorphs</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/unspool</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/still</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/seen-unsaid</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/say-something</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/perdut</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/findings</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/dies-irae</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/company</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/baggage</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/deranger-lespace</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-03-25</lastmod>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/life-on-mars</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-05-08</lastmod>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aabdbabb27e3989ec92b951/t/5ad0907170a6adbfd88fb956/1523617921212/MARS.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:title>Life On Mars</image:title>
    </image:image>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://www.anitaponton.com/introduction</loc>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>0.75</priority>
    <lastmod>2018-04-02</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

