Creative Technology Module: 'Mother said you looked like Johnny Cash'.

Karen Shannon
MA Creative Technology
The University of Salford
Tutors: Paul Sermon, Mathias Fuchs
July 2009
Introduction.
'Mother said you looked like johnny cash' used creative technology tools to explore and
express personal ideas and thoughts around the death of an unknown loved one. The
work was presented at the greenroom in Manchester, July 2009.

It involved an installation of a dead body placed on a high plinth, cameras, vision mixer,
fish eye projector, garage band software to play out a voice over, performer (myself) and
two groups of audiences who where invited to take part in and witness the passing
thoughts & feelings of this cathartic event. It mixed poetry with common word and used
simple technology tools to involve the people present by projecting their image onto the
installation in a ghost like way.

Death is a part of life but many of us fear it and are generally reluctant to think about our
own death and we may live our life as if we were going to be in this world forever.

There are also many aspects to death; the diverse values that people hold about death
and dying, different religious beliefs and what happens to our 'being' after death?

Clearly, the fact that we die, whether it is an end or a transition, does affect our relationship
with life.
'Mother said you looked like johnny cash' set out to challenge and make sense of how you
could grieve and say goodbye to a Dad who was never known.

The aim of the work was to evoke thought around the meaning of life & death in a
sometimes humorous way and help the performer to say goodbye to her Dad who looked
like Johnny Cash.

The Process.
I have always been interested in the subject of death & dying, this really materialised from
my early experiences of working as a nurse in a hospital environment, where I cared for
dying people and experienced different kinds of death, both the long suffering and sudden
death. I also observed the profound effect and consequences death had on family
members, friends and partners. Death is sad, heart wrenching and painful but it comes to
us all, and for this module I wanted to explore some of the themes of death & dying,
particularly around memories of life and the grieving process.
At the beginning of this process I had no idea that this subject matter would be so
overwhelming, utterly complex and turn out to be a personal journey about the loss of my
own father who had recently died, but who I never, really had a close relationship with
throughout my life.

I started the process by exploring what others artists had produced work around this
subject matter. I viewed the work of Bill Viola, 'The Passing' (1) a 54-minute video in black
and white that showed the birth of his son and the death of his mother, as well as
landscapes, the galaxy and nature, which gave the viewer a sense of the extremities of life
and the differences between the real world and the metaphysical universe.

'The Passing' was a very poignant piece of work and I used the visual imagery of the work
to start to think about the prose I was going to use as a voice over in 'Mother said you
looked like johnny cash'. While watching the work I wrote down a number of words &
phrases that I would work with to inspire my own words for the piece.

I also wanted to use some well known poetry in the work, I researched into the work of
John Donne, who wrote both personal & metaphysical poetry in the 1590's, W.H Auden,
(1907 – 1973) who wrote the 'Funeral Blues' & 'No Man is an Island' of which I used a
verse to both open and close my own work. I explored some of the text of William
Shakespeare, who wrote a prolific amount about death & dying in his plays and sonnets.

Words & thoughts of inspiration from Bill Viola 'The Passing'

Taking these words and my research into poets who had written in depth about death, I
started to put together a poem that explored the thoughts and feelings that I had about the
loss my father who I never knew. This was a hard process, I felt anger, pain and loss but
also a great relief that I could get my thoughts & feelings out in a creative manner. It took
me a long time to write the work, it mostly took place early on Sunday mornings – a time
when my mum played Johnny Cash at home whilst I was growing up. Indeed, the title of
the piece came from my mum, who said that my father looked like Johnny Cash, and in
some way that is how I'd always imagined him and why I loved the music of Johnny Cash.

'Mother said you looked like johnny cash'

We are gathered here today to witness the passing of Brian James Shannon. Born …...
Died.......Recently. Brian James Shannon AKA Johnny Cash

He was meant to be my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my lar de dar
I thought that love would last for ever: I was so so wrong.
 You lay there now- dead –

dead as a door nail

Your flesh

mottled purple

your hair once dark but now like a silver fox skin,

your eyes so so I cant seem to remember your eyes –

strange that don't you think?

windows of the soul aren't they– mother said you looked liked johnny cash

the man in black - mysterious

I never really knew you

I never held your hand,

I never stroked your hair,

kissed your cheek

or heard your sound

now I never will

look at you up there dead

out of reach as always

escaping this mortal coil

you were meant to protect my heart

 not let it bleed like this.

God this is hard what do you say to someone you never really knew – do you know?

breath breathing –

its good for you breathing

lets it all out -

I do that when I'm in the pool you know dad

try to breath in all the good things

and breathe out all the, the pain, the anger and the hurt

the water takes it all away, laps it to the sides of sky blue walls

down the plug with the dead skin, length of hair, the dirt & traces of shit & piss

it's so sad that you knew nothing of me – everyone I know goes away in the end – (sing)

mother said you looked liked johnny cash

I only have three memories of you dad -

The day you took me to Norwich – my brother football boots, me a riding hat, but I didn't even have
a pony

The circus , the clowns, I cried all the way through.

You came to the door a dark shadow – asked if you still had to pay maintenance for me - shocking

Can I cry a vale of tears over you – you who left me when I was small
will anyone hear me, does anyone care, am I allowed to grief

You there, yes you can you comfort now please

Just one small touch of warm flesh, a brush of the hand, a special look, a squeeze of my heart

I have nothing left to say johnny cash -I have listened to you all my life but have never really known
the you – oh it makes your heart bleed makes your heart bleed tears

let me leave your flesh now

may it turn to dust

may it float across the oceans to find a way to lights of glory

Let the purple angles take you

 far away to the other place -

No regrets Johnny? I think so

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. & Johnny Cash & my dad who I never knew.
Goodnight Daddy
--

I also explored the work of The Centre of Attention's Schwanengesang/Swansong (2004)

(2) which offered the the public in Vienna an opportunity to rehearse their own funeral.
First the participant selected a song for the ceremony; they then lay on a plinth, performing
death, while the song is webstreamed.

Swansong. Study for Karlsplatz, the Centre of Attention, 2008

This work inspired me to think about how I could get the audience involved in the work I
was producing. I wanted the viewer to be able to reflect on their own mortality and to think
about their relationships with people they loved and how important it was to nurture these
whilst alive. I decided that I would project their images onto the body and I sketched some
ideas about how the piece would work on a practical & visual level.
The first thing that I created was the body, I cast a body out of chicken wire and then
applied mud rock to get a smooth outline. I mounted the body on a wood frame so that it
could be placed on a high plastic frame, giving the effect of a dead body placed on an
elevated plinth/slab. I then covered the body in white sheets, which would be used to
project images of the audience on.

Once I had a structure to work from I started to play around with cameras & a vision mixer
to get the right effect, I wanted to create ghost like images of people on the structure. I
also visited the greenroom to get measurements of the space and talk to the technician
about the installation and it's requirements. It was decided that I would get in the day
before to set-up and then be able to do a dress rehearsal the morning of the performance.
The piece required quite a complex technical set-up to reach the required effect. However,
I achieved this by using the following equipment.

Two Sony HD V1 cameras set at 10 frames per minute, focused on the audience, with s -
video leads into the vision mixer.

Edirol vision mixer which mixed the two images together, with EFX, one input negative and
the other white. The vision mixer then had an output to the projector which back projected
the images of the audience onto the white sheets. I used a fish eye projector as I didn't
have much throw in the studio space at the greenroom.

I recorded the voice over straight into and edited it in Garage Band, I played out the voice
over through a Apple Mac book which was connected to two Edirol speakers,
I also attempted to broadcast the performance live over the web using ustream, this
proved to be problematic as the connection to the web was not very stable in the studio
space at the greemroom and all I got was the first opening image. This was the first time
that I used stream, and I would now like to explore this in more depth and if I were to do
the work again, I would spend more time on the live broadcast element, so that the work
could reach larger audiences and that I would have some documentation of the work.

http://www.ustream.tv/
Conclusion
Going through the process of creating this work has been a very cathartic experience. It
has enabled me to play with new ways of using technology and presenting work in a public
space to express inner thought & feelings around the difficult subject of death & dying. The
process to put the work together involved many different practices, making, writing, use of
technology and performance. It also involved a great deal of emotional input and thought
to be able to deal with sensitive and sometimes painful issues. However, I did find some
closure in dealing with the death of an unknown father figure through the work, and to be
able to share the experience with close friends and colleagues did enabled me to grieve
and find some peace. The audience as witness also played a crucial role in making the
experience a real life one, it brought up emotional feelings in people that enabled them to
also express their thoughts about death & dying. Certainly, the comments from audience
members confirmed this, they were very moving, honest and frank.

Feedback & Evaluation

As part of the process to get feedback from audience members, I produced a feedback
form, which I asked to be filled out at the end of the viewing of the work. I wanted to get
some thoughts and comments about their experience of being involved as a participant,
and to inform and shape any potential future developments of the work.

Feedback Results.
Question 1
How did you feel when you entered the space?
• Not as shocked as I'd had some warning about what to expect however it isn't a
nice feeling to walk into the space. Once realising where I was projected on the
sheet I wanted to try and keep still, I didn't want me to distract the piece even
though I enjoyed watching others fidget!
• Reluctant, a bit nervous.
• I felt in a very solemn, quiet and clear atmosphere. Not really like a church, more a
theatre – but then full of light and clarity
• Calm, slightly uncomfortable as entering a private part of a friends thoughts that I
wouldn't normally share in
• Intrigued as I didn't know what to expect
• Reference/solemnity/anticipation
• Sad (My own daughter, Molly 9 years old)
 • Initially confused, then slightly intimidated & apprehensive then peaceful, respectful
& intrigued
• Quiet, respectful
• Calm but intrigued
• Anticipation
• I'm glad you spoke to us about the piece before we entered the space. Infact that
was almost part of it. I felt better prepared
• Intrigued and in anticipation

Question 2
What were you thing about when the performance was taking place?

• I was listening to what was being said. I really like Johnny Cash so it was occurring
to me that this man really didn't deserve the compassion or playing of such a
beautiful song
• I thought about your word, I was very focused on what you said. My thoughts were
more subconscious emotions. I felt like I was @ a funeral. Bodies were tense,
unsure of what to do
• I tried to imagine how the person who was dead looked like, how he was a human
and a father. I also thought about my father and even though I knew him still miss
some information
• How my actions in life affect those that love me
• About 2 of my friends who died aged 40 and 50. My friend dean killed himself after
an illness and at his funeral they played Johnny Cash singing 'Beast in Me' – a
song that was a rare point of emotion between him and his father
• Karen's pain & anger & sadness
• Very Sad! But cool (My own daughter, Molly 9 years old)
• About what it might feel like for you Karen, talking about your dad. And about the
technology bringing us, the audience into your piece
• How it would feel to be in this situation – not knowing a corpse – and why it matters.
Whether the sound was live or recorded. How brave the piece was in confronting
personal feelings
• Karen's words and situation
• Thought it was very deep and was enjoying the visuals & audio
 • I was thinking about your experience. I was thinking about my own daughter .
Thinking about love for her
• My Dad, who died 5 years ago. Didn't really know him, but he was always nothin!
• It changed throughout. I felt very sad for Karen when I saw her face toward the end

Question 3
How do you feel now, after the performance?

• Odd actually. I've hardly encountered death in my life and I try not to think about it
and although I understand the piece and try to use this understanding as a barrier
to my emotional involvement I don't think I've managed to and it has still affected
me in some way.
• I felt very moved, and closer to a friend. I felt quiet, and of of peaceful
• I am still thinking about this person and about child-father relationships
• Sad for the artists experience but happy that life goes on
• It's taken a few minutes to reflect – you remember people you have lost amd dont
want to speak to anyone
• Pleased that Karen has had this opportunity to express her feelings 'does anyone
care?' yes they do
• Sad! Unhappiness (sad) (My own daughter, Molly 9 years old)
• Impressed by your bravity, honesty & performing skills
• I am left with a memory of a lovely song and a ghostlike moving tapestry
• Pleased to have seen it
• Very moved. Johnny Cash's music means a lot in my family and death too
• Quiet – would like to talk to you about the piece some more
• A bit sad – will my daughters know me?
• I don't know

Question 4
Any other comments?
• It was extremely touching, raw and emotional. It was very strong having you on
stage, this was when it became real and not just a performance. Well done Karen a
brave personal piece
• A very brave and honest performance. Thank you
 • Beautifully conceived in it's simplicity – but with complex emotions
• Lovely classical effect in images reflected on folds of sheets
• Sadness (My own daughter, Molly 9 years old)
• Well done darling. Gold star, Shannon! X Noah
• A really strong vocal performance and good use of writing + prose. The Mystery of
it all
• Well done Karen!
• I would also have liked to explore the installation – learn more about the video
aspects. I felt I shouldn't move. Although I would have liked to
• Very interesting and thought provoking

Budget
Expenses that were associated with the work are listed below, the main cost was the hire
of the greenroom technician who had to be present in terms of health & safety regulations.
Item Cost Total
Making of Body £40.00 40
Sheet material £23.00 23
Flowers £18.00 18
greenroom costs including £120.00 120
technician
Equipment on loan from £0.00 0
LGG & Salford University
TOTAL £201.00

Bibliography

(1) http://www.billviola.com/
(2) http://www.thecentreofattention.org/home2.html