Alex Hetherington, A Million Lies; Once and Only Revealed After Death (Triangle of Need) | 2009 | 33min | 3 Channel DV | UK/US
Two folk singers are presented to an audience, a male singer and a female singer; they present three songs. An email scam is reinterpreted into a fake language that uses word forms from Swedish, Japanese and The Muppets. It has been written from the perspective of a man with incredible wealth whose desire is to resurrect a lost species, perhaps Neanderthal; his obsession with this recreation is non-specific. The second song is based on the life of the gun heiress Sarah Winchester and the psychic who told fortune. The psychic, who foresaw Winchester indulging her wealth in an architectural project in San Jose, California, was actually a con artist seeking a vast share of her fortune. The third song is a revision of the sea shanty Shallow Brown, from an arrangement by Percy Grainger and HE Piggott from 1908/1910. Shallow Brown, known as ‘Challo’, was a sailor of multi-racial background who was ostracized for his identity. Challo was notorious for philandering during his adventures at sea. People claimed he stole the identity of citizens at each port of call, which fostered elaborate narratives that aided him in seducing women. (This sequence has been cut.)
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Alex Hetherington is a performance-based visual artist, curator and writer. His most recent work, A Million Lies Once and Only Revealed After Death (Triangle of Need) was developed during a Creative Lab residency at CCA Glasgow and funded by Alt-W/New Media Scotland. This work has been presented at Inspace, Edinburgh Art Festival, and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. He has also contributed to shows at Warehouse of Horrors, The Embassy Gallery at Swg3, The Embassy Gallery, David Cunningham Projects (SF USA), The Colony Room, New Langton Arts (SF USA) and On Performance Art Festival at Bios (Athens GR) He lives and works in Scotland and Northern California.
