Alberto Perera is a Mexican actor. By creating characters, he thoroughly examines and depicts the idea of identity and the body. This led him to work with Pia Camil in her "Split Wall" exhibition where he plays a character named "They". They is an androgynous character in Pia's series of five videos that is neither male or female, as the name implies and the videos show They interacting with everyday objects going through everyday life. They has on a latex body suit with a corset at the waist, plastic on the chest, pads on the hips and high heel shoes. Basically, They has the appearance of a woman, although, Alberto keeps his facial hair on to highlight androgyny
This post is going to examine some themes that Alberto talked about. This might be helpful for you either before or after you have seen the exhibition which I highly recommend.
The first theme is no restriction. Pia creates multiple identities in one character. So each character is a construction whose profile cannot be determined at a first glance or physically, for example, They's occupation, where They is from, They's hobbies, likes and dislikes and more.
The videos however, show the different aspects of the character by separating personalities. These aspects are "femininity", desire, fun, domesticity (cleanliness) and self-care which also form major themes.
The second theme is "femininity". You may probably be wondering why I have the word in inverted commas. Well, the video shows They in touch with the stereotypical feminine side in some way, wearing a headscarf, holding a flower, dreading exercise routines but deeper than that They mimics one of Pia's ceramic objects in the background, which I call the L-shaped object. Now, because the body takes certain postures related to the object, the body becomes the object and both Pia and Alberto here highlight objectification of the female body.
Desire, is the third theme. In this video, we see They portraying desire in a dramatic way, by wearing Pia's Kimono and making exaggerated movements. Shortly after, They picks up bread with a marmalade spread and tries to eat it but it spills on the piece of clothing. They sees this and begins to lick the marmalade off the clothing (like anyone will do if they were in their own company). Alberto explains that Pia uses this video of desire to state that the works are not too precious, it is just a piece of cloth in the end that can be washed. They both make this point to dispel any myth that says all art works should be untouched and left without a blemish.
Fun!!!!! The video shows they in a dance scene, asking the audience to join in. They has let go and is enjoying the music and fun. Some minutes into the video, They picks up a jean-structure (also Pia's work) and begins to dance with it like it is a person. So in that sense They humanizes the object. The dancing also depicts intensity and is almost not what everyday people will expect in a gallery but it certainly shows individuality and self-expression.
The last two videos show the last two themes- domesticity and self care. In one video, They is seen cleaning the house and doing some morning preparation (e.g. brushing the teeth, shaving the beard) and since They is neither male or female, the scene questions gender roles in the society since some people may attribute cleaning of the house to be a woman's job. Furthermore, Alberto explains that the activity becomes a friend to They. They interacts with each job and cleans diligently.
The last video shows They painting his nails. The character takes some minutes after painting each nail and hand to examine the beauty. They eventually puts a miniature version of Pia Camil's mask on the last finger that is painted. Alberto says Pia changes something big to something small (mask that formally acted as a house becomes a nail).