Captive Audience stars Anna Grahm, a fictional character as Disney songstress extraordinaire — she only sings Disney songs — singing When You Wish Upon a Star while hanging upside down in a straitjacket above a star-shaped construction. After the third loop through the song, she makes a wish by dropping a coin from her mouth into the star below.
Anna Grahm is the star turned on its' head, an anonymous star, a chrysalis, an impersonator or a female impersonating a female impersonator. She is a persona as caricature of persona. Like the great escape artist, Houdini, she's a sort of Nietzschean “uberfrau,” overcoming enormous obstacles or constraints to perform what seems like the impossible. You can read an interview with Anna Grahm here











"Captive Audience" (exterior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (interior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photographs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (interior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photographs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.