Hillary Holsonback is a multimedia artist from Texas. Holsonback specializes in projection-based “collaged” photographic imagery, incorporating images of herself clandestinely posed in almost unrecognizable contexts with (and as) women throughout American popular culture. She is also a performance artist focusing in experimental theater and video work.
Artist CV
Interview with Voyage Dallas - August 2018
Please tell us about your art.
I’m a mixed bag of mediums. I started out photographing myself performing with a projection screen. I would set up the timer on my camera, run to my wall where an image was projected, and dance through it. All of my photographs are untouched self-portrait images documenting a moment in time, a performance. From there, I collaborated with my contemporaries in dance, sculpting, video art, painting, and writing. My world broadened even further pushing me into experimental theater, film, and music. I’m now working on a concept character named Tan. She’s intentionally ambiguous – you only see this manifestation of her through video right now. I was always fascinated with live TV glitches and slip ups. I think it reminds us of how fragile we are how deep this fragility goes by playing with time; expanding and contracting moments. I try to replicate this kind of fragmentation in my Tan videos. She’s blissfully detached and profoundly indifferent to everything. Don’t look for a plot her videos, they mean nothing. She’s a stock character, totally free to use. I want artists from all mediums to use her, mold her, reinvent her. In her current form, she was born out of masculine projections. I built her completely void of feminine individuality. She merely glitters.
I like to experiment with free art forms. You can purchase, own and hold a framed photo in your hands – but you can’t really do that with a character or live improvisational performance. I’m drawn to forms that feel too free to control. I don’t know much about the technical aspects of a camera, performance art, writing music, making video. But that’s never stopped me. I’m not particularly interested in trying to get you to see through my eyes. I don’t take myself seriously, so why should you?
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The best way to keep up with what I’m currently working on is by following me on Instagram. I often have various performances and gallery shows throughout the year, which you can find out about through social media. I continue to collaborate with some fantastically talented artists, so you probably can see me prancing around town as a deer or singing Christmas holiday standards in some dark corner of a party.
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Artist CV
Interview with Voyage Dallas - August 2018
Please tell us about your art.
I’m a mixed bag of mediums. I started out photographing myself performing with a projection screen. I would set up the timer on my camera, run to my wall where an image was projected, and dance through it. All of my photographs are untouched self-portrait images documenting a moment in time, a performance. From there, I collaborated with my contemporaries in dance, sculpting, video art, painting, and writing. My world broadened even further pushing me into experimental theater, film, and music. I’m now working on a concept character named Tan. She’s intentionally ambiguous – you only see this manifestation of her through video right now. I was always fascinated with live TV glitches and slip ups. I think it reminds us of how fragile we are how deep this fragility goes by playing with time; expanding and contracting moments. I try to replicate this kind of fragmentation in my Tan videos. She’s blissfully detached and profoundly indifferent to everything. Don’t look for a plot her videos, they mean nothing. She’s a stock character, totally free to use. I want artists from all mediums to use her, mold her, reinvent her. In her current form, she was born out of masculine projections. I built her completely void of feminine individuality. She merely glitters.
I like to experiment with free art forms. You can purchase, own and hold a framed photo in your hands – but you can’t really do that with a character or live improvisational performance. I’m drawn to forms that feel too free to control. I don’t know much about the technical aspects of a camera, performance art, writing music, making video. But that’s never stopped me. I’m not particularly interested in trying to get you to see through my eyes. I don’t take myself seriously, so why should you?
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The best way to keep up with what I’m currently working on is by following me on Instagram. I often have various performances and gallery shows throughout the year, which you can find out about through social media. I continue to collaborate with some fantastically talented artists, so you probably can see me prancing around town as a deer or singing Christmas holiday standards in some dark corner of a party.