Living Statue Documentary - Life as an Art Form

most of us have seen them on our streets posing catching their attentions of on lookers as they pass by they often practice with an artistic discipline which requires mastery of suspended motion brief moments of motions are occasionally included to confuse or astonish the audience even ask questioning whether these are evil robotic mannequins or actual human beings my name is Julie van collar and I'll be taking you on a journey exploring the world of human statues and to find out who they are what they do and why they do it I've always wondered how much work goes into achieving such a statue like look so to get a better understanding I decided to reach out to a young lady from the Midlands my name's Eve I've been doing for about full time for about seven or eight months we've got really for the last four years I'm still practicing it's I think it's a ever-changing process you have to really keep at it the act I've got at the moment is the white lady and which has been all over the Midlands gets booked a lot of interesting events she's a kind of princess character what she gets called that a lot by children anyway yeah she's very regal looking made a big wedding dress currency's to people that kind of thing I'm currently making a few more costumes as that's the basic character indication I probably defined a living statue as someone who's practiced in the art of really staying still which takes a lot of patience people ask me that a lot about patience had like all how do you how can you go keep going and I've done it you know full-time at a full time like at least every weekend find a thing for six months and I haven't got bored yet as a spectator I've admired the ability to keep still for such a long time but I've always wondered if I could do it instead of experiencing this for myself I decided to have somebody do it on my behalf and I knew just the person for it I'm Paris I'm 24 from southeast London my dreams are initially to become an actress but today I'm going to try something different and see how it goes I don't really know what to expect so I'm feeling a bit nervous I hope that I can do it and I hope I can get a crowd and entertain people so that's kind of worrying me a little bit but we'll see how it goes my fears are that people just don't come and watch and that could be quite awkward but um yeah or I don't perform that well or people kind of look at me like I'm a bit strange I was lucky enough to make contact with another performer whom over the last 25 years has been responsible for painting dressing and transforming normal people into human statues waters I'm 50 and I've been a human statue robotic dancer for last 31 years robotic dancing for about 15 years I've made a business out of it been around the world and I got sick of doing it once you oughta find another profession that I found as much excitement in so I went to Paris and I thought Winter Gardens in Fontainebleau which is sort of for south of Paris and I couldn't understand why so many people were looking at this stone statue and I went up and I just let you enter she was literally in a foul flower bed one leg like that she was one of the imagine French French national ballet unable of cash and she scattered Encana and I just saw that I stood back for half an hour watching every reaction and I just thought so I came home back to England said to my father who was in a surgeon more so attended the general practitioner I'm going to be a human statue initially to me when it's money well-spent to public tools and so and and ever since I've been at human statue I've been interested in makeup so enough rage as years I love traders make up a love Halloween makeup I used to get the change in a toilet or some cubicles around the back that I found over the years a couple of statutes get changed on the street they creates an interest if you think you have sometimes a ready-made crowd but I'm just gonna stand up anyone look up so you don't I'll fine but there's an interest created and it's it's nice to feel come talk to you say so when I didn't have a car getting ready in public toilets took a lot longer getting everything out and kind of placing everything that you need everywhere lots of people coming in trying to talk to you while you're getting ready very annoying having your own car it's great tastes about half an hour hour at most it's just mainly doing the makeup and getting the makeup right and then I usually do the makeup put my dress on and then I've got to touch up around the neck put a necklace on touch up around the necklace put a wig on touch around the wish okay that's the thing that takes time but usually it doesn't take this too long today's he's gonna be responsible for transforming me into a human statue and he's gonna be dressing me up in drapes and get my face painted and wigs everything and so that's what I'm gonna be doing and trying that out so when I've actually arrived in Brighton and I met Matt and I had to get changed and so far they found out I had to get changed outside a public toilet that side apart I didn't really know what to say at that point but I kind of just rolled with it because it's all part of the experience it was a bit embarrassing because there was people watching me and it was during a crowd as I was in changed and also while I was getting painted so that was something different and the costume really was just two pieces of sheath I didn't think that was going to be a little bit more maybe like a Grecian kind of gown but it looked he was to rags but it's okay it works and it's approaching a white stone statute which is basically I've been bass and white pull over and blanks dibbles crazy like a white marble right and it's got quite white marble stone streets and yes the royal etcetera here I've got creamy colors so I thought I'd put it on one of the fence up here which was a missed on color in fact anyway so that's that's the reason this guy although they make standing so still look easy I've always wondered can this cause any health risks health issues there are a few action to be honest yeah making sure you're not keeping like tensing your muscles when I first started I was kind of because if you get like and worried about it your head you start to tense up because you think you know I'm not keeping that's straight or I'm not doing that that stance right or something it can be a strain on your arms I hold up aerosols from the time as well that does make me a key because it's holding up like this for about you know half an hour is also skin that's a big issue we're in that much facebait that often I have sensitive skin anyway but I've got like a kind of and slowly learning and it's taken me a while that kind of regimented skin routine that I have to go through to put girls away the face paint and not she know what a cry afterwards better that might just be me but it is that the wearing the face paint is difficult I know the company that i buy the face paint off and now making a new face paint just wear underneath to make it easier to get it on and off I use Vaseline because it makes it easy to wipe off instead of having to use tons of I can't leave baby wipes they take a lot baby wipes and it really does hurt your skin I had blood clots of both lungs by the TV to my leg and another blood clot last year and now I've got an eight leg ulcer which is basically passed as a fantastic thing when it's fit and blood down your valves aren't very good pushing them back up again you have a problem blood sits down there and nothing heals so well so that's my that's my problem then I'm still doing give you backache if you get the wrong it is standard on if you're also looking a lot of people think oh you must be standing there for ages but it's really important to kind of relax and not lock your knees as well because you can get bad knee issues from it I've been told and I've felt the ache of locking knees for too long yeah imagine just standing up for an hour or so even not standing still it hurts this smile upon my laughs you know I keep on saying it every year so I'm faced when I'm giving up this year and people keep reminding me this this is the third year you've been giving it up with a leg out so it's a bit more serious as well it's not going anywhere who doesn't heal very well these are the complications and something ultimately its seventh reputation knee down so that's with the way that Micah the way that's medicines done these days an amputation doesn't stop me living people having someone like important that come up to me giving me tips about how I shouldn't move my body and know things I would do my voice like kissing kind of a creature demon kind of like and you know he would also tell me that to keep eye contact with people if I do catch people's eye yeah that's very important not to kind of look away because you're embarrassed no remaining focused in role in character I'm not breaking up well I didn't think you'd be this good I tell you that much I thought sort of a lot of people said I said I could do that and I can't sort of sit there I'll stand there for more than to the 15 20 minutes so yeah she's been here about an hour or so plus she's earning pretty well you go got this it's getting bashed up but I can stuff out it over now she's done really really well she's applied herself really well let's ask the actress coming out as well you know take on the character and she's buying herself an entertaining people as well I look that way to see around people right although it may seem that fun to these performers and suffer they're quite passionate about I've always wondered how lucrative this profession really is the money's goods it really depends on the day the weather and how long we are out for where I go but the new place that I kind of stick around I'm making a living from and it's really nice that I can make a living from the public giving me giving me the money and the opportunity to do what I actually want to do which is nice better than sitting in an office yeah everybody says that you the thing of it all he would say is you will never get a straight answer they will never ever tell you oh yeah it's good always bad I never told you a figure I don't care cuz I play sax a bad day down here I've walked away from here and the worst day ever was in Venice mark and I walked over that pound seven hours just one of those days I've walked time with twelve grid I'm all time with Venice why they've ever had Cobb Gardens 359 pounds I literally could not pick the bag up it was so heavy Saturday 156 I was also curious to know what sort of attention they attracted went out of character and not to perform in because I Drive with no makeup on as well whatever I'm leaving somewhere I do often think someone might look at me too long and crash or something but honestly I think most people are all right at driving so hopefully though that would be fine wait was in the middle of winter so it made excuses and we're at this Junction and this road one was five of the walkers session walkway one was outside the shop so there were some people went through and - you have the bus driver stop I'm good sugar and the bus we need so many buses sort of came out of gear Giavotella was going on and you see people looking out the vast nothing at CP drivers walk drive hard to go which is quite funny I know of performers who've pulled out and cause accidents but not me it was kind of funny it was very difficult to hold a straight face I have to say it kind of not his face and so that was the only way to keep my focus otherwise I would have actually burst out laughing because it was very hard the longer Paris spent buskin the more people gathered around her curiously wondering if she was real and what her act was all about towards the end of her performance I was so proud of how she was able to rise up to what seemed to be a difficult challenge so I wanted to know what has spectators full of her act and her performance and I don't know you get somewhere in your brain where other things down yeah very well it's not even moving at first it was like probably like statute and tell us what it's all about kind of scared charlie I'm not moving at all and I'm so conservation it scarcely fits great I said well I think you don't really well for first time looking back she can't believe I became a living statue and I had a lot of fun it was a really good experience and you know it was a lot better than I expected do you want to do it again and maybe I'll hand in my notice at this job and you know start busking for a living you never know making this documentary has given me a fascinating insight to the world of human statues it has allowed me to unmasking it closer to the human side of these performers discovering what it really takes to be able to do what they do and how they do it but most importantly I was pleased to learn that this is an art form that can only be mastered if one has a great deal of passion for before you become a more gregarious you have to talk big because there was one to find out other things about kids are the best things as well as love I mean that their little ones are progressing up in life we're something new and they were seen out this I saw and don't come across human attacks in their life but it's you have to be receptive for every time they first children definitely make the show I'd say my favorite my favorite kind of child is the ones that are scared and then they look scared and they're really scared and put the money in see me curtsy and gets so excited and they did they're kind of like they're like it's just a fantastic thing I have more confidence walking around on this sort of and I have more confidence walking in the streets as well we learned to hold yourself more a lot but almost like a barrier around you I can understand what Buddhism is they create this force around I'm more relaxed in real life that I would have been a few years ago I think I used to be very anxious person as well and they really did it took me a long time to push myself to get out and do living statue in the street cuz I was petrified of what might happen hearing lots of stories of things and stuff like that this is what it's like to be famous you have people sticking cameras in your face the desire and I can take this off and I can walk out and Allah knows I am so it's it's happening anonymity sometimes it it's never happened let's find fun you say it never happened Saturday I was stood here it's never happened my life honestly gods on it true and I said hey I stood up as a bit one bit of one of those zones where I'd gone into a bit of a I felt this I thought someone attacked me on the back of the head around the whole kind of burst out laughing speaking floor as the first time ever happen I just thought thinking as the biggest Tom whom you've got to have this biggest gun to it a pigeon landing on you you

Channel: BMVSTUDIOS

Views: 15,447

Rating: 4.7735848 out of 5

Keywords: Statue, Documentary, busking, streets, art lovers, Make up, brighton, summer

Id: Q1a0bY8UjT0

Length: 18min 51sec (1131 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 05 2016