Interviews

Interviews 1994-2008

2008 July 1 ANNA HILTON Schlock, horror – video trash is community’s treasure MX p.5.

CULT FAVOURITE

Picture: SARAH MARSHALL

“West End residents are banding together to save one of their own. Trash Video, an alternative film store, has recently introduced a subscription membership and is hosting a gala fundraiser to kick it off. The Carry On Trash Video Cabaret Benefit will be hosted by another West End icon, Evelyn Hartogh, in her popular Wonder Woman persona. ‘Keeping alive Trash Video’s library is keeping alive our cultural history,’ Hartogh said. ‘The community has really pulled together, because the library we’re keen to save contains films that are no longer in circulation and may otherwise be lost to the world.’ Trash Video is Australia’s largest cult film store, specialising in the obscure – from B-grade horror to arthouse to world movies. The benefit night will be a mix of comedy, magic, burlesque and poetry – an eclectic range not unlike the store. The benefit is on Friday from 7pm at the Ahimsa House, Horan St, West End. “

2007 Dec 5 GRAHAM REDFERN Fighting Personal Demons Interview TODAY Section THE COURIER MAIL p.47.

“Even Superheroes get the blues, Evelyn Hartogh, aka Wonder Woman, tells Graham Redfern … For about 15 years Evelyn Hartogh has been pulling on the iconic bulletproof bracelets … of her alter ego, the feminist superhero Wonder Woman.

… the Amazonian princess was the prefect fit for the performance artist’s humanist ideals.

But behind the comedic performances and the bright red boots, Hartogh’s affinity with Wonder Woman has taken an ironic twist.

… “Everyone has to put on a strong face to the world and everyone has their own problems,: she says.

“That’s maybe why Wonder Woman is so appealing because we all feel the pressure to be more than we really are …”

2007 June MELISSA GILES A goirl's [sic] gotta do what a goirl's [sic] gotta do LINK DISABILITY MAGAZINE Vol 16/2 p.2-3

“Some years ago people strolling along Brisbane’s Queens Street Mall were startled to see Wonder Woman vacuuming the street. The Sisyphean task was impossible even for Wonder Woman – and that was the point performance artist Evelyn Hartogh was making: society’s expectations of Women are absurdly unrealistic.

… Hartogh draws on well-known figures from popular culture to undermine sexism, racism and homophobia. “My work is about trying to understand how we allow human rights to be violated on a day-to-day basis,” she explains.

Apart from writing and performing, Hartogh has also completed two Masters degrees part-time. All of this was achieved despite her being diagnosed in 2000 with Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Hartogh has been reluctant to discuss her disability publicly “because of the stigmas attached to it and a fear it will make people think I am not reliable,” she admits. “However, I’m now tired of being ashamed of my depressions – I’m doing my best to manage it and make a contribution to society …”

2006 July 24 NICK BRAY Comic Justice TODAY SECTION COURIER MAIL p.33.

“Evelyn Hartogh has a lot to say about many serious issues, from racism to homophobia and all sorts of oppression in between, but she chooses unusual vehicles in which to express it.

Which is another way of saying she spends an awful lot of time dressed up as Wonder Woman. Or Barbie. Or Lillith, the bride of Satan.

All will be on stage for Hartogh’s forthcoming one-woman show, Kick Kiss Kill, part of the inaugural Fringe component of the Brisbane Festival.

“Comedy is the most effective way of talking about social justice issues,” says Hartogh ….

“and also humour is about the unexpected, the illogical, and all forms of oppression are illogical, too.”

But there is logic to Hartogh’s actions, as well as a great deal of academic research. The Brisbane-based performance artist and author has two masters of arts under her magic belt buckle.

The first in creative writing, the next in women’s studies, for which she wrote a thesis about the role of Barbie in society.

… In the play Wonder Woman embarks on a tour of the world’s leaders.

“She’s a diplomat from a world of equality visiting a man’s world,” Hartogh says.

“She starts off in Australia where she asks to meet John Howard. He’s happy to see her because she’s a princess and he’s a monarchist, but he has some difficulty answering some of her questions.”

“She has to get the lasso of truth and she gets some very disturbing answers from him”

2006 July 1-2 ANDREW FRASER The Face Evelyn Hartogh performer REVIEW SECTION PROFILE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN p.3.

“… Evelyn Hartogh will take to the stage as Wonder Woman as part of her one-woman show at this month’s Brisbane Festival but her enthusiasm for the comic strip characters goes well beyond the professional … Her flat at Brisbane’s West End, shared with Princess Leia, her cat, not only has a poster of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman in the 1970s television series but also the first Wonder Woman costume that Hartogh made in 1991 for an Halloween Adrenelin Dance Party.

“I have always loved Wonder Woman,” she says, “I’ve always been interested in comics, and she has a far more complex character than all the other superheroes, who are kind of regular people who go to the gym a lot.”

“I like how all her weapons are defensive rather than offensive like the bracelet and the lasso of truth. Who wouldn’t want a lasso of truth, …”

2005 Sept 8 SUE GARDINER Event set to be wonderful CITY NEWS p.14.

“WONDER Woman will use comedy as a weapon against evil when she appears at a seven day festival celebrating the interests and creativity of women this week. The superhero otherwise known as performance artist Evelyn Hartogh will showcase her unique brand of political satire at Ladyfest …”

2001 July 4 BRIDGET HAYES Love is the Answer SCENE MAGAZINE p.42.

“All you need is love … Art Love Jam is back for 2001 with its particular brand of fruity, frivolous fun. Art Love Jam is an annual experimental cabaret event run in conjunction with the Brisbane Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Festival. The first Art Love Jam took place in the Hub Café and was produced by performance artist and author, Evelyn Hartogh in 1998.

Since then using the theme “Love is the common denominator” the event has flourished under the direction of evelyn and James lees, event co-ordinator for the 1999 Pride Festival … Art Love Jam provides an amazing platform for LGBT artists … not an ordinary night for performer and audience, which makes it a bright spot on the entertainment landscape … ”

2000 July 26 LAWRENCE ENGLISH Art Love Jam: Sweet Flavours TIME OFF p.38.

“If the annual Pride Festival needed any assurance of support from the community and government bodies, then the grant passed on to fund this years’s Art Love Jam is a sign they can’t ignore.

Coming into it’s third year, Art Love Jam is a multimedia event that celebrates the wide array of creative talent that sometimes lies undetected here in Brisbane

… Projects like Art Love Jam … provide a sense of community to Brisbane but also ensure that public education and an open dialogue can be maintained … ”

1999 Sept 8 MATT CONNORS Downright Dazzling TIME OFF p.26.

“PREPARE YOURSELF as the team behind this year’s Pride Festival cabaret event Art Love Jam, is back with a new vehicle called Glam Slam presented as part of the APT3 Artist’s Club at the Zoo.

Glam Slam is billed as a ”whirlwind of drag, acrobats, jugglers, music, comedy, beats, performances and installation art … ”

1999 July 7 MATT CONNORS Love is TIME OFF p.25.

“… One of last year’s bright lights is back for another delicious serving. Art Love Jam was a much talked about component of the Brisbane GLBT Pride Festival last year … ”

1998 March MARGARET SMITHHURST Intellectual Drag SEMPER.

“There is a healthy mix of brains and left-field dress sense in this girl who has been in the Brisbane fringe media spotlight since her first performances in 1992 … this is a serious version of the artform that is Drag …”

1997 Nov 3 META FINNAMORE Eve Hel Performance Artist UTOPIA p.13.

“… A well known figure in the Brisbane arts scene …. She slices through the dominant paradigm with a rapier-like wit and an array of intriguing personae … [and] gleefully satirises contemporary constructs of femininity”

1996 Sept 22 NICOLA ROBINSON Plastic Women and Concrete Responses SUNDAY MAIL p.92.

“Everyone has heard of Wonder Woman and Barbie. Evelyn Hartogh dresses up as these characters in real life and uses satire as a way of making feminism, that dirty word, consumable … The performance artist certainly has made her mark in Brisbane with her satirical style”

1994 June 15 DES PARTRIDGE Women's Role a Real Wonder COURIER MAIL p.4.

“Evelyn Hartogh doesn’t believe art should be confined to gallery walls … the City Heart Association is allowing the artist to bring her distinctive art to the Queen Street Mall on Sunday at 1pm for an a performance she says will last about 90 minutes as long as a feature film ”

1994 June 15 GAVIN WALLER Spotlight on Evelyn Hartogh SCENE p.39.

“ WHO: EVELYN HARTOGH Performance Artist, Aquarius, Feminist. WHAT: Investigating icons of femininity and sexuality and how they influence women’s position. HOW: Giving voices to the silenced, bringing laughter to the ludicrous assumptions and lies about women, sexuality, life and death …”

1994 April 3 NICOLA ROBINSON Acting Up in the Streets SUNDAY MAIL p.140.

“If you see superhero Wonder Woman and companions trekking though the City and Fortitude Valley Malls … don’t be alarmed it’s performance art … Hartogh believes her style of performance should be more accessible to the general public … Hartogh has had much to do with performance art’s rising status in Brisbane and is a sought after performer”

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