Overview
Duarte and Mitchell were colleagues turned
Ā and then friends. The birth of āSour-Pussā was a gradual one emerging
through conversations and arguments where they uncovered similarities in
worldview, their feelings relating to themselves and a mutual dislike for
āpositive thinkingā.Ā
āThe composite character bearing both biographical and fictional traits was
created to expose the hypocrisies and inconsistencies within normative power
structures. āSour-Pussā has no desire to 'accept' or 'assimilate' mainstream
versions of gender and sexuality. āSour-Pussā is in the truest sense of the
word, queerā.Ā
āShe is neither passive nor an object nor a limp body for my eyes to feast on.
Even though my gaze, when I frame the photograph, is irrevocably mine and not
Jessicaās, conceptually itās not just my gaze, itās ours. That is fundamentally
what makes this collaboration unique. The story of the woman in the photographs
and her drawings, but also her narrative, arose out of many hours of conversing
with Jessica about pain and repression, but also about happiness and freedomā.
-Ā Diogo Duarte
āThe series has led to some honest and challenging conversations. It has
shocked me just how surprised some people are that anyone would take pictures
of a woman who looks like me ā¦ I think middle-aged women terrify people āwe are
uncategorisable, we are harbingers of the ādoomā facing us all and we are cut
loose, at least potentially, from many of the roles society likes to impose on
women. Somehow āSour-Pussā embodies thisāthat I might do anythingāand, in fact,
I plan toā. - Jessica MitchellĀ
āMelancholia and a sense of isolation or alienation, feeling fundamentally
wrong or at odds with the world, are the backing track to the work. Questions
are raised concerning sexuality and gender, age and beauty, body image, and
even the idea of redemption or reconciliation and how it can be possibleāor if
it can be possibleā to live within the context of oneās own
āinsanities,ā accepting these as part of whom one is. Ā Acceptance of
oneselfāthe good, the
bad and the ugly, or, as Mitchell says: āloving oneself, and screwing up, and
loving oneās self againāaccepting all the imperfectionsā. ā From the essay by
Anna McNay
This book title, Sour-Puss: The Opera, ISBN: 9781910401569, by Diogo Duarte, Jessica Mitchell, published by Global Book Sales (April 12, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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