Experimento 11: Tentativa de Pin-Up; Raspadinha de caramelo

In Experimento 11: Tentativa de Pin-Up; Raspadinha de caramelo (2016), Luanah Cruz spreads melted caramel all over her naked body with the help of an assistant. As they liberally apply the substance, she becomes “clothed” in the caramel as if a second skin, leaving only her neck and head uncovered. As the video pans out, it becomes evident that the perfomance is being watched by a variety of onlookers, who either peer through a window or are seated behind a glass enclosure. On the floor surrounding her are various pictures of pin-up models, whose airbrushed appearances contrast the grotesque sensuality of her own performance. Once the caramel hardens, it encases her, visibly restricting her movement, until slowly she begins to peel off the layers, freeing herself as she poses for her audience.
 
Luanah Cruz (São Paulo - 1985) lives and works in São Paulo. With a multidisciplinary background that integrates the performing arts, visual arts, music and art education, she is a Specialist in Music and Image from Faculdade Santa Marcelina and a Bachelor in Communication of Body Arts from PUC-SP. Having her body and her trajectory as triggers for creation, her investigations have as axes: the relations between body, memory, time and architecture; identity, visibility, public and private, image and representation, belonging, ancestry, affectivity, black female and female.

Since 2005, she has been dedicated to the Art-Life project “The Experience of Life is the Question” and has presented works at the SESC Cariri de Culturas Exhibition (CE), Ateliê 397 (SP), Praça das Artes (SP), Vila Itororó ( SP), Casa das Rosas (SP), SESC Taubaté (SP), Oswald de Andrade Cultural Workshop (SP), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), SESC Santana (SP), State University of Maringá (PR), SESC (Pompeii), I State Performance Forum (SP). A member of Coletivo Preta Performance, she is co-founder of Coletivo Intrânsitto, which is dedicated to urban interventions and interfaces between Performance, Theater, Dance, Photography and Video.