Advanced Life Drawing : Puke and Rally

When I first started thinking about what to do for this performance, I was at a complete loss. Performance art terrifies me and confuses me at the same time. Although I have always appreciated many art forms, it has taken me the longest to understand and appreciate performance art. I approached this piece by reflecting on issues that I have been thinking about lately. Currently, I have 8 weeks left of my time in college and have been thinking a lot about what I spent my time in college doing. To be honest, I spent a lot of my time drinking.

The directions of this piece are the same as the title:

Puke and Rally

Although I will be performing this piece by taking a shot sized amount of liquid and spitting it up 4 times, to represent my 4 years in college, I believe this piece could recreated by anyone in a number of ways and interpretations. I also will be spitting up the liquid rather than puking it up, for classroom reasons, but I believe the directions of the piece need to still read “puke and rally”, for reasons I will explain later on.

Before taking each shot, I will say a phrase that was said to me that influenced me to drink. They are as follows:

Freshman Year: “Everyone drinks in college”

Sophmore Year: “Take a shot, take a shot, take a goddamn shot. If you can’t take a shot like an APHI can than you shouldn’t have a motherfucking shot in your hand.”

Junior Year: “Shut up and drink”

Senior Year: “Don’t be a grandma. You’re still in college”

The phrase “puke and rally” was used a lot by myself and others, particularly in my first two years of college. I used to laugh at it and at one point even took pride in being called Queen of the Puke and Rally, but looking back I see a lot of sadness in this phrase. When I would go out, I would sometimes get sick from drinking, throw up, and continue to keep drinking at a party. I would also get sick from drinking one night but rally in time to go out the following night. I would also make myself throw up after a night out so the calories of the alcohol I ingested didn’t count.

This piece is a commentary on college drinking and my reflection on my experiences. I think there is an epidemic of drinking in college. Every year, freshman start college with the idea that having the college experience equals “getting fucked up.” There is an immense pressure to find joy in drinking, not only from the images the media feeds us, but also from peers.

Last year, I did a piece on the performance artist Millie Brown. Her performances consist of her ingesting colorful liquids and throwing them up a canvas. While I was intrigued by her methods and how uncomfortable they made me feel as the viewer, I felt that her art didn’t really have a strong message to it. I felt that she was puking for a shock factor rather than to send a message through performance. I wanted to use some of her methods, but impose a personal meaning on it. I was also heavily influenced by images of partying and college in pop culture, as well as alarming statistics about college drinking.