Standing at an antique table, Holly Timpener faced the gathering of visitors while wearing black platform, peep-toe high heels, black pleated trousers and no shirt, revealing an array of tattoos and the scars from their top surgery. They lifted the lid of the glass vanity jar to place their bare left hand in talcum powder and then powdered their face. After replacing the lid, Timpener shifted their attention to the 2kg bag of Rogers Sugar. Using their right hand and a large golden spoon made of welded steel by Calgary-based artist Sinéad Ludwig-Burgess, they scooped up a heaping spoonful of white granulated sugar. Timpener proceeded to walk towards the staircase while balancing the spoon filled with sugar. Placing their powdered hand on the rope tied between three stanchions leading up the staircase, they ascended the stairs. Upon arriving at the mezzanine, Timpener poured the sugar over the railing into a glass serving dish next to the powder and the bag of sugar on the table below. Then, descended the stairs to repeat the actions.
Signaled by the title—A Spoon Full of Sugar—this mesmerizing durational performance addressed the ways in which gender is lived, felt, identified and presented, alongside the tension of how gender is assumed and expected. Key elements within the performance offered poetic moments for contemplation: the sweetness of sugar to soften projected expectations and the way in which they carried this consistently throughout the day with their Sunday (right) hand. At the same time, they used their Monday (left) hand to make up their face, and left talcum powder handprints along the rope and banister to “indicate a collaboration of asking for and accepting help along their journey” (Timpener 2024). Building out of conversations between Timpener, myself and co-organizer, Camosun College Visual Arts Instructor John G. Boehme, Timpener adapted the adage “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” in response to the history and architecture of the Spencer Mansion in conjunction with their own lived experiences. In doing so, they choreographed the conditions for a transformative space through site-specific performance to reconsider normative expectations of gender, and, equally, demonstrated incredible mental and physical strength and endurance.
The performance of A Spoon Full of Sugar and Timpener’s on-campus artist talk on November 22, 2024, continues a long-standing relationship between the AGGV and Camosun College Department of Visual Arts supporting their Visiting Artist series, an important opportunity for the students, and broader community members, to engage directly with practicing contemporary artists.
– Written by Dr. Toby Lawrence, AGGV Curator of Contemporary Art.
A Spoon Full of Sugar was performed by Holly Timpener in the Spencer Mansion of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria on November 3, 2024.
LEARN MORE
Feature Image: Holly Timpener, A Spoon Full of Sugar, performance, 2024. Photo by Kyra Kordoski, courtesy of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
