A performative based work, Troglodyte , incorporates video, sculpture and large format photography. In a comic and ridiculous gesture, Holman investigates human emotion and behavior by pretending to be chimpanzee.   The term 'troglodyte' describes a simpleton or brute who may live in a hole in the ground or in a cave.   A troglodyte is emotionally reactive and potentially dangerous; s/he is without acute powers of reasoning.   Pan troglodyte is also the scientific name of the chimpanzee.

Both fantastical and absurd, Holman has constructed eight life-size, hollow, latex, hair and fabric, chimpanzee sculptures/costumes.   Robed in these suit-like sculptures, Holman and several actors became the subject matter for the subsequent photography and video. Holman refers to the wearing of the sculptures as a primitive animation technique.   The photos deal with ideas of neurosis, magic, nurturance, depression, mysticism and self-reflection.

To create the video, Holman worked with a group of dancer/actors who also wore the chimp-like sculptures.    Edited to Electrelane's contemporary epic rock-n-roll song "Gone Darker", the piece is akin to a music video.   The video plays with ideas of violence, sex, animism, nurturance and the primal horde.

Holman's artistic process, across media, involves fabricating human-like forms and invoking their life though animation. We at once have a deep sense of recognition, often alongside revulsion and humor, at experiencing this deliberate and often primitive animation.   The process of animating the forms allows Holman to probe and express some of the fundamental (but normally taken for granted) dynamics of human relationships and emotions .

Weather in the spotlight of academic investigations or popular culture, the chimpanzee has often been the focus for human projection. It is here that the biological foundations of our behavior lie. Their societies, emotional lives, anatomy and brains mirror our own.   Holman cites her influences in neuroscience, evolutionary theory, behavioral sciences, animism and popular culture.

Additional text on the "Troglodyte" project:

+text by Lera Boroditsky (pdf)
+Glen Helfand's Artforum.com review (pdf)
+Amber Whiteside's Artweek review (pdf)
+Stephanie Rogerson's Now review (pdf)
+Alissa Firth-Eagland's YYZ review (pdf)
+Amber Drea's UR Chicago review (pdf)
+Cassie Riger's Art Ltd. article (pdf)