14 DAY TRIAL // On March 22, British reality star Jade Goody passed away from cervical cancer, following a highly-mediated battle with the disease that generated much debate in both the local and international media. The other night, artist Mark McGowan held a live art exhibition based on what he thought Goody’s last two hours might have been like, and the reaction has been anything but kind to it, as the Daily Mail informs.
The “Re-enactment of the Death of Jade Goody” lasts close to two hours and is inspired by Goody’s final moments, surrounded by her mother and her husband. There is no dialog and close to no movement, as the actress playing Jade lies on the bed and only occasionally moves her hand to grab that of Jack Tweed, the man she married within weeks before passing away. Yet it was not this that got the British media up in arms, as it was the artist’s choice of how to render the three characters – with cardboard boxes with photos stuck on them.
“I understand it’s provocative and sometime that is my aim, to provoke people.” the 37-year-old artist says for the Mail. “I’ve been accused of jumping on the Jade Goody bandwagon, but the truth is I think people are just too hung up about death in this country. I admired Jade and believe she was an artist herself in the way she performed before the media. Many of the spectators at last night’s exhibition were very moved by what they saw. People walked out of the room, telling me it brought back memories of when their mother died... or their brother died.” McGowan adds.
As for choosing to bring Jade’s drama back to life by means of boxes that prevent the viewer from seeing the actors’ face, the artist says that this too is part of the entire show. “My argument is that the cardboard box serves to disengage the spectator from the actor and makes them fully focused on who they are playing.” he explains for the same publication. At the same time, the play in itself is not meant to ridicule in any way Goody’s death, or even her impressive media exposure over the last months, but to show that she too was, at the end of the day, just another person.
“Jade became this iconic figure through the media and people could only relate to her through that medium. But what last night showed was that in the end she was just a normal 27-year-old girl who died of cancer.” McGowan concludes by saying.