{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1681363"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1681363/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NP2163/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NP2163/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NP2163","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1681363","accessionNumber":"PH.1154-2022","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Becoming an Image","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"‘Becoming an Image’ was originally conceived in 2012 as a site-specific work for the ONE Archives in Los Angeles, the oldest active LGBTQ archive in the United States. Cassils now performs this work around the world, with each live performance generating its own unique series of large-scale colour photographs.  The performance takes place in a dark room, illuminated only by the flash of cameras, as Cassils attacks a block of clay roughly the same size as their own body, beating it from every angle.\r\nIn more recent iterations, Cassils made an additional layer in the display of these photographs by hanging them over a custom wallpaper (PH.1160-2022) showing the audience watching the performance. The wallpaper formally turns the lens of the camera back towards the viewers and captures their collective engrossment and sometimes unease.  It makes a poignant comment on the spectacle of the trans body and the considerable threat of violence to the trans body in the public realm.  \r\nSome of the end results have been cast in bronze to make this a work of sculpture as well as performance and photography. The sculpture casts are intended to act as a monument to queer resilience entitled ‘The Resilience of the 20%’. The title underscores the chilling statistic that in 2012 when this series began, murders of transgender people increased by 20% worldwide.  A further work of art entitled ‘Monument Push’ (2017) was conceived where the bronze casts (weighing almost 2000 pounds) were pushed through the streets of Omaha, Nebraska, to local sites of LGBTQ trauma and violence, but also places of celebration and resistance.\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Inkjet print on coated paper from a series of six made during a performance at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Australia, 2019.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cassils","id":"AUTH376798"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"c-type colour photography","id":"x35645"},{"text":"inkjet","id":"x39339"},{"text":"","id":""}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"LGBTQ","id":"THES266921"},{"text":"Gender and Sexuality","id":"THES48940"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DOP","id":"THES291628"},"images":["2023NP2163"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"KK","shelf":"2","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Perth","id":"x38813"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"These images were taken at a performance of the work in 2019 at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Australia."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2019","earliest":"2019-01-01","latest":"2019-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the artist","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"760","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"1013","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Cassils from the series, 'Becoming an Image', 2019\r","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"In the artists own words in 2012 describing the performance:\n\r\n‘Becoming An Image took place in a completely light free environment. The only elements in the space were the audience, a photographer, the performer (myself) and a block of clay weighing 1500 pounds (around the same height as me). Throughout the performance, in the darkness, I used my skills as a boxer/fighter to unleash a full-blown attack where I literally beat the form. (I have been training in MMA and self-defense for the past three weeks in preparation for this piece). A ‘sculpting’ process resulted on account of my blows. For the duration of this performance I was blind, as was the audience, as was the photographer. The only light source emitted came from the flash mounted on the photographer’s camera. This burst of temporary light allowed the live audience to see only suspended moments of the performance, much like a “live” photograph, burning this image into their retina. The performance lasted 24 min. The act of photographing is the only way in which the performance is made visible. The resulting images sometimes captured my movement and sometimes not. The lens filled with the fog of my breath and was speckled with droplets of sweat and dirt as it captured the flying debris.'"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["PH.1154-2022"],"accessionNumberNum":"1154","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":2022,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-10","recordCreationDate":"2022-01-06","availableToBook":false}}