Suited up

It's not every day you see someone in a Zentai suit.

Yes, most people have seen these head-to-toe spandex bodysuits somewhere: at sporting events, in the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" music video or on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where Green Man started the trend.

Yet only a few saw three Zentai-clad students from this university Saturday, when they traveled to the National Gallery of Art to present a performance art piece in which they posed in relation to the art around them.

Senior English major Sohayl Vafai came up with the idea over the summer in an effort to question both the standard perception of art and the meaning of personal identity.

"One of the things we're interested in is how your identity is perceived by wearing something so bizarre that will limit people's ability to perceive you in the ways they normally would, and another part is exploring art itself," Vafai said. "What is a valid expression of art? Why do we value certain art pieces more than other art pieces?"

When considering how people might react to the performance, Vafai turned to a theory that revolved around a more mainstream concept: Hello Kitty.

"Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth, so you'll project your own emotions onto Hello Kitty, and Hello Kitty will be happy or sad or whatever you're feeling," Vafai said. "This project is kind of making us featureless, too, so that's an interesting element that could play out while we're there."

Vafai, junior English major Deanna Wright and sophomore English and studio art major Hannah Methvin bought their suits online for about $50, each in a different color: Vafai in gold, Wright in silver and Methvin in black. Vafai said their choices were based mostly on preference, but acknowledged the colors might have inherent personalities of their own.

"It's very revealing, so you feel like people are looking at you more closely than they would," Methvin said. "But it's also very comfortable. Since you can move a lot more, you notice different parts of your body."

Vafai and Wright began posing on the Metro, which elicited responses varying from surprise to intrigue. One Metro rider, Wilbert Hidalgo, asked if Vafai was a man.

"After a while, you can't really tell," Hidalgo said.

All three then performed at the art gallery, mimicking the stances in classical paintings and sculptures or creating their own positions juxtaposed with modern art. And passersby noticed.

"This kind of stuff fascinates me," said Kevin Quick, who visited the gallery Saturday. "You could have 17 Monets hanging on the wall, and I'd rather watch this."

One of the guards, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was so entertained by the experiment he felt he should be paying to see the performance.

Crowds gathered around the costumed students to gawk or take pictures. Some gallery visitors even followed Vafai, Wright and Methvin as they moved from artwork to artwork to see if anything would change in the students' movements.

Liz Romanek watched the three pose in the West Building, found them later in the East Building and asked if she could take a picture of her responding to the art along with the students.

"I can't draw, but I have a great appreciation for art," she said.

After the display, the performers said they felt more conscious of people in the space around them at the gallery, though they could see very little through their thick masks. Vafai hopes to conduct the experiment again, adding accessories such as briefcases or moving the performance to a different venue for a different reaction.

"I felt like they didn't know me, and that was cool because I could do whatever I wanted," Wright said. "But I still felt limited, I still felt bare; I felt very exposed to the world."