Hamster Cheeks

Hamster Cheeks, a pair of looped digital videos, is a humorous look at feminine clothing as affective structure, and a consideration of the choices and anxieties that, in ‘keeping ourselves together’, we keep to ourselves.

In the first Hamster Cheeks video, a woman stashes objects in her bra, then removes them. Framed from the bottom of my chin to my waist, I take objects from an off-screen table to my left and hide them, one by one, under my shirt. The objects are domestic items from my studio: office supplies, scissors, utensils, small toys. Then, one by one, the objects are removed. Some are visible as they pass by the camera; others remain hidden in my hand and the folds of my cowl.

The second video, finished several months later, is a 6.5-minute loop of me squirming, fiddling with my skirt, and aggressively picking my underwear out of my bum. Like in the first video, there is clearly some sort of invisible ‘structure’ under my business clothes – but here, instead of being ‘helpful’, it causes obvious discomfort. What’s happening under there? The viewer assumes that some sort of internal structure must be underneath my clothing, and is invited speculate on its unusual nature. The pair of videos invite ‘cheeky’ speculation.

Send me a message for private links to the videos on Vimeo: megan at populust dot ca