June 9th, 2009 by Senna

Back here reporting for duty!

A couple of months ago I discovered a performance piece by Italian artist Chris Channing called “The Faun.”  Although I think his videos of fantastical performances could benefit from better cinematography, his fabricated personas and detailed costuming and makeup are absolutely stunning.  Here’s a brief description of his piece, The Faun, from his website, it aligns with our philosophies of FANTASYIRL in some ways:

“The Faun

Life is full of surprises … full of dreams and fantasies that become reality. Between truth and fiction. The Faun. A Mythological Beast. The legend talks about a creature half animal half human. Here is the reality.

This is a young male – around 40 years old – they typically live to between 150 and 170 years old. They sleep in the branches of trees – climbing with the use of only their arms while using their hooves to dig small steps in the trees’ bark. They eat roots and small animals. They are of good character but can be touchy. They do have developed vocal chords but it seems that they use them to make a series of sophisticated noises rather than words as we know them.

This is a ‘pookha’. (The faun is part of the fairy world – the fairy race – and the pookha is another subgenre) He was captured in dense woodland in the north of Ireland. The pookha are divided animal below human above, more or less. Other types of faun are of different dimensions and with different animal/human divisions.

The exhibition of the faun can vary – in a park or villa where he is free to wander ‘alongside’ the guests – he can be brought into a performance arena and shown there or he can be viewed in a zoo like enclosure with the assistant or owner in attendance. She presents him to them, and them to him. She is the verbal communication between beast and public, which alleviates any fear, prevents any ‘hooligan’ type jokes and encourages the public to express their reactions. The assistant is ‘a veterinary or mythology student’ working at a nearby research centre’ where the faun was brought after his capture and from where he will soon be released back into the wild. In a medieval setting she is the gypsy who has bought or captured the animal. This role is sometimes filled by a child.”

View The Faun here

Since I am planning on constructing hooves of my own for my Draenei Cosplay for Blizzcon, I cannot stop admiring the caliber and realness of his faun legs and hooves.  Boy do I have a lot of work ahead of me!

Another short performance piece that is watch worthy is Guardian Angel, viewable here.