Philip Lee

Slip Stroll was a performance at the opening of Creating A Scene, at the National Centre for Craft and Design.

Philip Lee was covered in white clay slip and scattered with mars violet pigment by Cally Trench before he entered the gallery. Cally Trench followed him into the gallery wearing a blue taffeta dress marked by the clay and pigments. As Philip Lee circled his installation in the exhibition, marking the floor with clay footprints and leaving dollops of pigment streaked clay. Cally Trench mingled amongst the spectators offering them wrapped sweets and souvenir postcards.

Philip Lee wrote: "The experience of the clay on my flesh is important in making the performance mine. In my performances, the clay slip is cold when it first goes onto my body, and as it builds up it feels heavy. The clay slip moves slowly and accumulates on my hands, genitals and other parts of my body. Once it covers my head, I become separated from the world around me and I hear the sounds of my inner body and movements. When I perform covered in clay, I feel powerful because people react, respond to my presence, smile, or move away. Their presence confirms liveness and ensures that a memory of the performance has been created. It is all these implications that make my body presence in my performances essential."