The art of Lilly McElroy

February 5, 2008 1:17 PM

The art of Lilly McElroy: "The gestures that Lilly performs for the camera are simultaneously loving and cruel; they are an attempt to discuss the desire and difficulty involved in making a connection...These photographs, videos, and installations that she produces, while trying to interact, acknowledge the possibility of failure - that someone might not catch her, that a connection might not be made."

My personal favourites are in the "I Throw Myself At Men" and "Performative Videos" sections.

posted by Ira.metafilter (11 comments total)

Oh and, a little more on "I Throw Myself At Men" here.
posted by Ira.metafilter at 1:39 PM on February 5, 2008

The most likely reaons 'a connection might not be made' is that the web designer didn't bother to check if it worked in Safari under Leopard.

FAIL.
posted by unSane at 1:50 PM on February 5, 2008

Seems to work fine on my Firefox and Safari on 10.4, unSane.
posted by Ira.metafilter at 2:02 PM on February 5, 2008

10.4 ≠ 10.5
posted by unSane at 2:09 PM on February 5, 2008

I dunno. they're a little bit meh.
posted by nasreddin at 2:19 PM on February 5, 2008

Can't spell portraiture.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:41 PM on February 5, 2008

I throw myself at busses.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:58 PM on February 5, 2008

Well, as someone who's felt sad and disconnected lately this made me smile. I haven't watched them all, but I especially liked "The Square" -- how near the end another person recruited herself to help, and together they were so intent on defending their territory they worked in perfect time together like athletes. I can't remember the last time I played unselfconsciously like that with another person, and I didn't know till now just how much I truly missed it.

So thanks, ira.metafilter{)*

*{) = clumsy hug
posted by melissa may at 6:25 PM on February 5, 2008 [2 favorites]

I originally saw McElroy's site because of the "I Throw Myself at Men" press she's been getting... but got sucked in to the rest of the site. I second Ira.metafilter's comment about the "Performative Videos" section.

Particularly, "The Square" and "Two Anecdotes" were pretty great.
posted by avoision at 6:26 PM on February 5, 2008

I really really liked the photo called "Laundry Mat" from 2004, under the "Locations" category. Little kids will roll with *anything*. Thanks for the post.
posted by facetious at 8:40 PM on February 5, 2008

melissa may, as someone who's been feeling the same, your comment meant a lot. Thanks *{)
posted by Ira.metafilter at 2:32 PM on February 6, 2008