The Big Apple
Performance using the talent of Tobey Sharp and Alex Flegal, Materials include an Apple, String, Camera, Button, 2026
Apples have been cultivated by man since the beginning of civilization. Time has since given the apple significance as a symbol in modern and historical culture, mythology, and cuisine. The earliest was from Roman mythology – the apple itself was given as a symbol of love, and fertility; but within the mythos it was associated with Venus (Aphrodite) and she is often depicted holding one. Beyond just Roman mythos, in the Christian faith the apple is associated with deceit and allurement stemming from the garden of eden and the choice of eating the apple made by Eve. These are two very different stories, both using the apple as a core symbolic element to get across a moral lesson. This is referred to as the Union of Opposites, which is a potential to achieve balance by reconciling opposing elements. The apple can both represent knowledge/temptation, nourishment/danger, love/loss. Carl Jung used it as a reference and symbol for the Shadow Archetype, saying it represented knowledge, desire, transformation, and the potential for change.
The apple is a charged symbol, not in controversy but in the way that it has so many connotations it is ready to burst at the seams. I’ve chosen to focus on its potential within that dichotomy. The love and desire that I so readily feel are so close to bubbling up and out of my throat, creating a desperation and giddyness that needs its opposing force to meet it – lest it run away with me.
I’ve chosen to represent this opposing force by eating the apple in an unconventional way. It is tied to a string, too big to be bitten easily so that I cannot eat it alone. The opposing force is my boyfriend, Alex. His presence on the other side of the apple, pushing against it, eating it in tandem with me is the only way that the action can even take place. I have chosen to document this in video format and use choppy, fast, and whiplash-like editing to splice the clips together. I created an atmosphere that is full of tension that is then soothed by long shots of slow movement and wide angles. Close ups are used to convey the rush and headiness that comes with overwhelming desire, the want to consume and therefore also be consumed. The apple itself is almost worshiped, as it has been in mythos, and in my own life. Messy, difficult, funny, and awkward this piece takes the charged history that the flesh of the apple holds and nourishes us with it.
Tobey Sharp Studio 