Slopper, 1996, Exit Art, New York, NY (performance installation)

A clown-like figure in white/shiny costume seems to offer a doll to the camera — Slopper, 1996, performance installation view, Terra Bomba, Exit Art, New York, photos: Murray Hill

A performer appears to pout, sitting inside a sheer tent in the shape of a 2-storey house — Slopper, 1996, performance installation view, Terra Bomba, Exit Art, New York, photos: Murray Hill

Slopper was a character that my sister and I developed when we were children. The game was that we were the proprietors of an orphanage for monkeys and apes and Slopper was an ape who had come to us when he was very young. He was a difficult charge, however. For he not only bullied the other more vulnerable inmates, but refused to recognize my sister and I as having any authority at all. Our relationship with Slopper revolved around this power struggle. Much of it was predicated on issues of identity. For one thing, Slopper refused the fact that he was an ape. He was also driven to assert constantly that he was a boy. We found this both amusing and annoying. Annoying, because it was clear that his insistence on the male gender was based wholly on his contempt for girls. Contempt for us, in other words. We, who were his benefactors. I regret to say that in our frustration we retaliated by teasing him mercilessly about his both his gender and his ape-dom. But it was the only way to get under his skin.