In what has come as a shock to many, local abstract artist, slam-poet and owner of pink hair, Rose “Moon Girl” Gardener (31) has revealed that she doesn’t always like being the centre of attention.
Gardener rose to fame last year when she participated in a piece of performance art called “Sealed in snot” where locals in Betoota’s village square were encouraged to write letters to strangers using Gardener’s own “ethically sourced” quill ink made from powdered nasal mucus
“I don’t really like to call myself an artist because that sort of hints that I don’t commit to the written word which obviously I do with over 900 poems written about men I hate,” she said without even being asked a question.
“To be honest though, I don’t even really like being the centre of conversation. I’m really quite shy, my 40,000 followers know that about me. I tell them everything.”
Patrons of Betoota Hotel’s bi-weekly slam poetry night note that her shyness is obvious and that it translates really well into her humorous poetry about her crippling social anxiety.
“I just find it hard to be the centre of attention when I’m on stage and everyone is looking at me and hanging on my every last word.”
One such situation where Gardener felt uncomfortable was during her 2017 installation titled “I’m Me” which involved her painting 150 nude self-portraits, each with a different part of her body, in front of her closest family and friends.
“People kept saying to me “Oh my God, these are perfect” and I thought “Haha, of course they are, I’m OCD. [sic]””
To take herself out of her comfort zone, Gardener is planning her next piece of performance art where she is telling personal secrets she has never told anyone slowly over three weeks in a glass tank.
“Really I’m not that special though, I’m just a normal person but instead of pushing pixels in an office I push the boundaries of what it means to be human in the world.”
“Just don’t call me the next Yoko Ono though. Haha, don’t.”
