No Ilam Gyp or Noi Lam Gyp
In the original Pygmalion Myth, a sculptor creates a statue of a woman, falls in love with its perfection, and a god brings her to life so that he can consummate his love. This myth touches on many themes related to art, creation, and society. In its original form it is misogynistic. The sculptor creates the statue of the perfect woman because he is disillusioned with the real women around him. To me this myth is backwards. It suggests that art can be more than life: that there is a perfection that can be attained but which cannot exist in reality. This seems like a wrong point of view - one that is even distructive to our creativity. Life is so complex that we are incapable of comprehending it in its raw state. Art is a reflection of life, that is simplified to its bare essence, a shadow or a faint whisper so that we can understand a little of ourselves. In this theater piece, I want to take the Pygmalion myth and run it backwards. Taking the complexity of a person and moving their form back into a statue. To create art by simplifying life. I propose to do this in two ways. Pushing forward by painting images of statues onto the silk. Pushing backwards by having the actors paint themselves white, and move into position to complete the painting.
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