BECOME YOU ART PERFORMANCE: I. TURN OFF THE TV II. DISCOVER THE TRUTH WITHIN III.

FUCK WHAT THEY SAY IV. LIVE More and more people look as if they are carbon copies of each other today. Invisible forces, such as the media, are controlling us. This is what they want. They want you to be stupid. The purpose of the news on the television is to distract you from the real problems of the world today. How is it that we are running out of water, healthful food, and there is a war with people and children dying everyday, and yet we consider ourselves progressive in the 21st Century?

We have become slaves to this invisible force! Loans have been created to enslave you for life! No matter how hard you work for yourself, your children, and for your grandchildren, you will be poor. Youve been programmed to believe that if you work hard, youll make money, and magically become happy! And so you wake up at 7 AM and go to work at 8 AM, you listen to the news, you believe what they say, then you get cancer, before youve even gotten the chance to retire and rest, and you dont even know why! BUT if you WOKE UP and if you BECAME YOU, you would know about the unclean air in our environment now and the poison from the supermarkets that claims to be food. Instead youve been popping your Zantacs like candy, laughing at the absurdity of reality television, and dressing the way the magazine tells you to dress!

IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP. Turn off the TV and radio, throw out the magazines, tune in, listen to your heart, do what youve always wanted to do, live, and be free!!! BECOME YOU. For too long, mankind has had someone or something telling us what to do and how to live. The Church began by telling us that nudity is a sin. After Adam and Eves expulsion from the Garden of Eden, their first punishment was nudity. As they walked out from the garden, they supposedly cried after noticing the obvious fact that they were naked. How is it that something as precious as our own bare skin could be a sin? Humans make love and flesh is flesh and it will always be in our nature to show love to another person in the nude! To this day, people still believe the claims of the Church!

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, by Masaccio, 1425

Now, theres also the TV. The TV begins telling children from the time that they are two years old which toys they should play with! From the age of two, we are already being told what to do. How can we progress as humans into the 21st Century when the youth cannot construct their own opinions and ideas? STOP THIS ATROCITY! BECOME YOU! From this moment on wake up and live! Enter the new awareness and dont let anything or anyone control your mind anymore! BECOME YOU!

BECOME YOU COSTUME & ART PERFORMANCE: On 09/30/2011, artist, Molly Ccile Surazhsky, stood in the center of Liberty Square Park, amongst the Occupy Wall Street protests, where she performed in a colorful costume and papier-mache mask. THE MASK: It is made of papier-mache, plaster, gesso, acrylic, gloss, yarn, seashells, and twigs. The mask is covered with colorfully detailed lines and patterns inspired by an African textile print, found on google.

The colors and geometry of the patterns on the mask represent, both, the simplicity and complexity of life. Colors are all around us and symbolize aliveness and excitement about life! While geometry, shows us the basics of life, which may seem simple to the eye, but is in fact, more

complex. The human body often times, is a perfect example of geometry. Therefore, people have a close relationship to geometry without even realizing it. We must create our own geometry by living to our fullest and greatest selves. HALO: The halo is meant to symbolize the equality between humans and otherworldly ideas such as, God and angels. We must come to realization that ideas, like God, are within us. We have great power inside us and all we have to do is believe in ourselves.

DREAM CATCHER (within Halo): The purpose of the dream catcher in Native American culture is to catch nightmares and destroy them. According to Konrad J. Kaweczynski, "Only good dreams would be allowed to filter through Bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day." The dream catcher within the Halo of the mask is to catch the wonderful dreams and ideas of people and actually bring them into reality! SEASHELLS & TWIGS: Caught up in the strings of the dream catcher are seashells and twigs. The slightest touch of nature reminds us how intimately, we as humans are connected to nature. We must respect this and remember to go back into nature away from our paved jungles (the cities) to learn and give back to the Earth. THIRD EYE: In between the eyes on the mask, there is a third eye, which is painted yellow. This is symbolic of awareness not only around us in the world, but within oneself.

The Annunciation and Life of the Virgin, by Fra Angelico, 1426

 DRAPED DRESS: The pattern and colors seen on the mask continue onto the fabric of the draped dress. The draped dress is inspired by Ancient Greek sculptures of Goddesses, which were typically clothed in draped garments to highlight the curves and shapes of the human body. The Ancient Greeks greatly appreciated the human body and its strength and beauty and they wanted to show that off with drapery. Beneath the beauty of the drapery, there is deep meaning as to the symbolic strength of people, which we must not forget. We hold the power.

Sculpture from the East Pediment of the Parthenon, 448-432 B.C.E.