Pugnus Vulgaris (aka. FISTMASS, a festive divertimento)
First performed at Nortons (Birmingham, UK) as part of FIST MASS on 12 December 2024.
On 12 December 2024, visual artists Foka Wolf and Tat Vision curated an irreverent Christmas extravaganza titled FIST MASS. Reinventing the variety show format in its own special way, it featured comedians, drag acts, live rock, DJs, games, and unstoppable silliness from the hosts themselves. Participating artists included: Ginny Lemon, Lindsey Santoro, Barbara Nice, Burt Bacharackhams, Maxx Gentleman, SHALLWE, Unique, Gans, and Pablo Pakula.
This piece was performed twice during the event, first on a small platform to the right of the main stage, and later on in the evening on the main stage itself. When it was first conceived and performed, the piece did not have a title as such. Acquiring the name of the event as its own by default, I initially referred to the piece as FISTMASS, a festive divertimento. Divertimento is a word that comes from the Italian 'divertire' meaning 'to amuse'. It refers to a musical genre that, whilst not having a specific form, is usually characterised by being informal or light-hearted, as it was often played during social functions, events or banquets.
Nevertheless, when I revisited the piece to create a performance for video in May 2025, I thought needed to find a new title for it; one that would work beyond Christmas context the first live performance. In keeping with the work's religious overtones, I chose a title in Latin: Pugnus Vulgaris, which simply means 'a common fist'. To enable an easier distinction between the first iteration of the work and any further incarnations, I continue to call the original performance FISTMASS, a festive divertimento.
Teaser videos created in the run-up to the event:
The work was initially conceived as a cabaret or club performance, and belonging to a strand of my work that seeks a direct and thick engagement with materiality. In fact, my first impulse to create the piece was a long-held desire to fist a watermelon as part of a performance. I only retrospectively found out that the watermelon emoji had become a byword for Palestine on social media during the summer of 2024. The Jesus-like outfit was initially intended to simply be a festive wink to the figure of Christ, and was constructed around a crown of thorns I acquired for P33, created in 2016 to mark my 33rd birthday. In doing so I sought to connect Christmas and Easter, as the celebration of Jesus' birth and his death respectively. The necklaces, gold and notes of red in the outfit are a deliberate nod to Catholic iconography and opulence, as well as a reference to conspicuous consumption and excess. Moreover, given to the watermelon's more recent association with Palestine, I am aware the work has gained a heightened and potential political reading. To perform the piece I had to buy several watermelons completely out of season and grown in Brazil (readily available at several main UK supermarkets). Therefore, in this first iteration, the work also had a potential reading related to the climate emergency because it enacted a kind of violent metaphorical 'environmental fisting' - given the elevated carbon footprint of procuring watermelons in the UK in December.
Images by Irina Mackie.
Images by Sam Frank Wood.
In May 2025, I developed the original material for a video piece created in collaboration with Marallavi Films.