the image gets used and that’s okay), there cannot be anything blocking the face (no microphone or hand, etc) and it cannot have any parts cut off (for example: sometimes there are talk bubbles that block part of the face). Yes, it does reference current trends, as the celebrities that are available are the ones that are popular or promoting a film/ show at the time and that is why they are currently in the magazines and newspapers. But there are only so many pictures I can use of Matt Le Blanc at any one time (from the promotional ads for Episodes)... MOHARA Interestingly, you have referenced vintage London – rather than use contemporary images, why? JESSICA There is something magical about vintage images. Also the colours are special. You really feel like this time no longer exists or is accessible. It must have something to do with my fascination with time travel. MOHARA Time travel…? Is this why so many of your works involve dressing-up, performance and role-play?
JESSICA That’s a really nice connection, one I will take forward. Oddly, I am always surprised how all of my interests and influences are so interconnected. I have always been a bit of a sci-fi fan, loving films like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Bing Crosby) or the book Time and Again by Jack Finney. It’s through seeing how the world has changed, even through our own lifetimes, that makes reliving or visiting a different time so engaging (Life on Mars & Ashes to Ashes, BBC). It’s not being a tourist in the normal sense of the word but having knowledge about a time and place that you shouldn’t. It’s empowering but also romantic (Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen). The first time that it all really came together for me was in the installation that I made for LIMBO in Margate, where I created a fake TV studio set for Star Trek (original series). I created a fake alien landscape, provided costumes, scripts and props. There was a camera that was used as a link to a monitor so the visitors to the exhibition could have the entire experience: acting on Star Trek, being whichever character you loved best and then seeing yourself on Star Trek! I was Lieutenant Uhuru.
Jessica Voorsanger & Ivana Saldana, West Side Story Meets Rocky Horror Picture Show, Wide Open Schools Exhibition, Hayward Gallery, 2012; Courtesy of the artist
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