Show Pony (2023) Treadmill, Ponytail, Rosettes, duration: 30 mins

 

Performances as documented below:

Royal Academy of Arts Burlington Gardens entrance for the RA patrons Open Studios (2023)

Staffordshire Street Gallery, Peckham for Are the Stones Standing Still (2024) curated by Dinosaur Kilby

 

Violinist: Carrie Topley

Musical scores: William Tell Overture by Rossini and Meditation by Massenet.

 

Show Pony is a live performance. I am wearing a leotard covered in rosettes from unknown pony and dog shows, a pony tail hair extension and I walk toward a pink treadmill. A violinist begins to play. We lock eyes. I start to run, matching her increasingly intense performance. What begins as collaboration becomes a struggle for dominance.

The work draws on durational performance to examine success, submission, and the pressure to entertain. The rosettes, once symbols of achievement, become markers of repetition, expectation, and control within a system that rewards relentless visibility and compliance.