Beautifully covered in body paint, a teenage Hannah Tasker-Poland became a live statue in a festival.
It was 20 years ago, but Tasker-Poland can still remember that feeling of being a walking piece of art, and the positive reactions she received from those who saw her.
"It made me go ‘wow, this is making me feel so amazing about my body. The only thing I‘m wearing is a g-string and I’m fully covered in this incredible artwork, and I’m going, wow my body is this walking work of art, this is so cool’. That feeling has really stuck with me."
That formative experience showed her how powerful the body could be and has led to a career experimenting with ways to use the body to express her ideas and connect with people.
"As far back as I can remember, as a very young girl I was fascinated with the body, how it holds so much power."
The way the feminine form has over history been adored, worshipped and lusted over and the statues, paintings songs and poems dedicated to it have intrigued Tasker-Poland.
"It’s this lofty thing that we put up on a pedestal but at the same time it’s been this thing that has been very controlled, manipulated, abused, repressed, it’s rife throughout history even up to now."
Even when the eroticism of the feminine form is being done in positive ways such as in burlesque or cabaret, people still find a way to cut it down.
"They go, ‘no that’s slutty, we want you to be hot and sexy, but not too hot and sexy’. That stuff has always fascinated me. It’s what drew me into performing and creating art in these areas.
"Over the years as I’ve been experimenting with what kind of art I want to make, those kind of themes have always been present at the forefront of the work."
She has worked with dance companies Borderline Arts Ensemble, Atamira Dance Company, Footnote NZ Dance and Southern Lights Dance Company, and was a founding member of The New Zealand Dance Company.
"When you are dancing or choreographing you think of and relate to body. I often think of the body as this structure or form. I can make this body whatever I want it to be."
Tasker-Poland has also worked in films, theatre and television. She has continued to work with SPFX body painters and performed in burlesque and cabaret for many years.
"I’ve always taken all of the creative inspiration and performance styles that I’ve done and blend them with the kind of stuff people might see in a burlesque show or erotic performance, but subvert the ideas."
Performing naked does not faze Tasker-Poland, as it is something she chooses to do to get across an idea or to challenge people’s thoughts and perceptions about the body.
"Using nudity or being naked, I enjoy doing that sometimes as way to go, maybe you might be used to viewing a naked body as something sexual or fetishised, but how about I present nudity to you, but then put on a performative layer, OK this is not actually a sexualised thing."
She is also just as likely to present an idea of eroticism but in a positive way.
"When I choose to be viewed in an erotic way, that is what I’m choosing to be looked at in that way. For the most part I’m usually twisting it up and making it dark and grimy and making it a bit weird."
It can be confrontational for the audience, but never abrasive. It is the idea she is presenting about society’s view of women that can be unsettling for people rather than her performance, she says.
"I never want to do anything that is shock factor for the sake of shock factor or anything that is going to deliberately leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth. I want to take care of the audience."
Her first full-length solo show, The Most Naked, is the culmination of her involvement in those many art forms and the themes and ideas she has always been "obsessed" with.
"[It’s] all of these ideals around women, feminity, the feminine form and these perceptions of nudity, of nakedness; kind of twisting and shape-shifting and subverting all of these cultural mores around striptease or what being the most naked is — it might not have anything to do with how much or how little you are wearing — and really wanting to wrap all these ideas up in a form that has a really big nod to burlesque and cabaret art forms.
"I guess I’m just wanting to subvert and f... with these themes to make people think, and to provide a different perspective on the body and to connect with people and maybe offer some kind of inspiration or empowerment."
The show begins with the familiar — a women draped over a piano accompanied by dashing pianist, saxophonist and composer Lucien Johnson.
"They think we’ve seen this — ‘we know this, it’s familiar’, then the whole thing gets flipped on head."
Much of the success of the show is down to the musical "wizardry" of Johnson, she says, whom she originally asked to compose music for the show which she could play as a recording. When he offered to play it live, it was an offer she could not turn down.
"Having him in the show is so wonderful, being able to create that known vibe ... [it’s] a very familiar setting for audience."
Bringing the show to Dunedin for the arts festival is something Tasker-Poland is excited about, especially now the damaging years of the pandemic seem to be over.
"I’m stoked, it’s ages since I’ve been to Dunedin."
The Covid lockdowns were not an easy time for her; as it did for all arts professionals, her work dried up, and while there was government support she found the experience really tough mentally.
So when Auckland went into lockdown again last year, she did a "Covid pivot".
"I thought ‘oh my God I can’t go through last year again, it was terrible’."
Her partner and friends, aware of her feelings, suggested she don a tool belt and join them on the building site — something she had never considered before.
"They were like ‘we’ll teach you everything’. It was the best thing to happen to me."
She discovered that while her fifth-form maths was a bit scratchy, she really enjoyed working with her hands and the immediacy of getting results from her work, something that never happened in the arts with its long lead-in times for projects to come to fruition.
It has been such a success, Tasker-Poland is not planning to hang up her tool belt any time soon. Her partner is creating a workshop at home and she is looking at having a more design focus with her future dance and theatre work.
"And see if I can make a bunch of stuff myself as a way to keep growing that skill and save money."
She is also hoping to get back to her next project which was put on hold during Covid, Project Muse. It aims to explore the idea of the muse and give the muse a voice to see what she has to say. The idea comes from Tasker-Poland’s own role as other people’s muse over the years.
But first she has a role in Auckland Theatre Company’s latest production, The Made by Emily Perkins, looking at artificial intelligence and creation. It is a role that seems perfectly fit for her — a former sexbot who has been re-programmed to feel real emotion.
"It’s a very cool role, and right down my alley."
To See
The Most Naked; by Hannah Tasker-Poland,
Mayfair Theatre, October 21-22, Dunedin Arts Festival
