LADY JUSTICE and the lost sword (Chapter 1)
The epic tale of how Lady Justice lost and re-gained her Sword of Justice; part graphic novel/fumetti, part video, part performance art.
NUESTRA SENORA DEL PAN: pie performances
First in a series of cross-Canada events whereby the public was asked to bring a homemade pie along with a Pie Story. After circle storytelling, Nuestra Senora del Pan led the groups in X’s & O’s choreography with live music by local musicians. Grunt Gallery, Vancouver.
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Rent Do
A Grimm’s Fairy Tale of Dancing Grandma in 5 languages with original music, flags, and laundry. It even rains Earl Grey tea.
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VERB WOMAN: Cleaning and Loving it
Dragu cleans the steps of the Ontario Legislature short weeks after a bloody demonstration. She and her Artist Friends create a walk’n’ roll PARADE from Queen’s Park Legislative Buildings past Art Gallery of Ontario and through the parks and streets of Toronto all the while cleaning cleaning cleaning. See the book and DVD “The Living Art of Margaret Dragu”, edited by Paul Couillard, published by FADO.
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History of Nuestra Senora Del Pan
Nuestra Senora del Pan executes durational performance pieces employing time, yeast, sugar, flour, water, oil, fire and sweat. Nuestra Senora del Pan celebrates the peasant and the domestic.
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History of Lady Justice
“Mature but not old; Lady Justice aka Lady J and sometimes just La Dragu is without question the world’s most ubiquitous artist model! Formerly called Justita, and earlier Themis, Dike & Ma’at, she is seen in paintings, sculptures, friezes around the world, & as chachkas on E-Bay.”
The persona of Lady Justice allows me to explore sex and representation, sexuality in time of war, transgressed/transgendered body, public/private obsession with celebrity, symbols/symbolism, fata morgana/simulacrum, & notions of vengeance/bearing witness. It is the act of BEARING WITNESS that is central to my work as Lady Justice.
My alter ego surfaced like a phoenix during the 2006 NAC performance, St. Catharines, Ontario. I spent 3 weeks on-line soliciting participants to go to bed with me (and my cameraperson). We videotaped individuals & couples talking with Lady Justice about sex/intimacy. These were projected during a ritual exhaustion dance whereby Lady Justice’s blindfold fell to reveal a weeping goddess. The weeping Lady Justice holding her Scales & Sword guided a candlelit parade through the dark night time streets of St. Catharines.
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Deconstructed Dollhouse
A performance tour and then a video that examines ideas of family, marriage and home
Blending Ibsen’s classic text, 16 mm film, video and dance.
Dragu’s Nora-for-the-90’s embodies a real estate agent, a homeless person, a pregnant lesbian, a woman looking for her lost Alzheimer’s mother, and a 1-900 psychic
Video distributed by VIVO and VTape
