Featured Performer 1996
Nao Bustamante
"America, the beautiful"
Nao Bustamonte, of San Francisco, has performed worldwide; Berlin, Mexico, Tiawan, and London to name a few. Bustamante's art is a bizarre brand of performance and improv, combining the elements of female sexuality and beauty with cultural diversity. Bustamante's work cracks sterotypes by embodying them, and disarms the spectator with vulnerability, only to confront them with a startling wake up call. "America, the beautiful" is a distorted beauty ritual in which Bustamante becomes the cliched image of femininity. Utilizing clear packing tape, four inch stiletto heels, horrific make-up, and a fifteen foot ladder, she creates a comical, yet disturbingly tense juxtaposition of performer and audience.