Still Life Photography Demonstration

Still Life Photography Demonstration- Jenna Maurice Montazeri

What happens when you watch old home movies... and you realize that your sister always had to follow the act of you- the loud, too perky, too conversational, overly dramatic little sister. My sister Sara and I grew up together and it is only just recently that I have been exploring the strange dynamic of our past. While watching a home movie I discovered a scene involving both of us competing in a "demonstration contest" at our local 4-H club where we had to demonstrate our knowledge of a certain subject matter, as well as demonstrate pose and public speaking ability. I did my demonstration on "The Five Food Groups"- a subject that was easy enough to chat about and make it look like I knew what I was taking about. I even planted a questioner in the audience to ask me "which food group tomatoes were a part of" so that I could show how knowledgeable I really was and let them know that, contrary to popular opinion, they were fruit. Sara, my older sister, followed my "act" with a demonstration about "Still Life Photography"- a subject she had apparently been reading about in a book that explored the topic much like a book about installing a new washing machine- very mechanical.

Sara performed her demonstration with shy eyes and head down. She didn't have the confidence in her subject matter to be completely sure of what she was demonstrating. There was hesitancy, but there was courage. I wanted to be her in that moment.

With this history in mind, the performance was not what I had thought it might be for me. Being in a room full of artists who know that the rules set forth in her demonstration are a bit ludicrous, the performance just ended up being farcical- and it was hard for me to keep a straight face at times. Looking back on the performance, I see it as just another way that I garnered attention- by "stealing" her perfectly (now) amazing demonstration and using it for my own selfish gain. A perfectly good intention now turned to something a bit tainted from the original thought.

I still think the performance was successful on a certain level. The irony of it is intriguing to me. I think I am still processing through it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Since none of you knew the background, I wonder what your reactions to the piece were?