Who is Lidia Lidia? Who is Baglady? We should have asked Lidia who Mr Bones is? Lidia Lidia has taken part in a number of Cultivate exhIbitions and events now, we probably first came across her art on a social media feed. Lidia’s art is always striking, immediate, imagery that grabs a viewers attention straight away, it does demand you ask a question or two about the point (or points) she might be making with her latest project. This summer Baglady has been catching our eye (mostly on Instagram). 

Thirteen Questions From Organ. The idea is simple, an ongoing series of thirteen questions sent out to people who’s creativity we’re rather admiring and enjoying at the moment – artists, musicians, film makers, cake testers and who knows who… This time, ahead of Lidia Lidia’s appearance as part of the latest Cultivate on-line exhibition, Mixtape No.1, the London-based artist has answered the thirteen questions…

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
I am something trapped in a human body. I think I was meant to be a bird but I finished in the wrong casing. I pay my bills working as a life model and metal worker and I spend all the money left producing conceptual/political art.

WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?  WHERE ARE YOU MOST DAYS?
At the moment at home in bed, but I spent my day modelling in Shoreditch. I spend five or six days per week spreading my uncovered limbs somewhere in London.

3: WHO OR WHAT IS EXCITING YOU RIGHT NOW?
The idea to have a few months of break. But I am not sure I am able to force myself to do it: I spent the last three years threatening to have one but the longest break lasted two days…

4: WHY DO YOU MAKE ART?
I have been pissed off from the inconsistency of the system in which I live since when I was a child. I tried politely to ask questions to try to understand. The majority of the time I was ignored. I think that with my work I am trying to process that I am part of a totally insane, destructive and self-defeating civilization.

5: HOW DO YOU WORK?
I face every project in a different way and with whichever media seems appropriate. But the thing that every project has in common is that when the work starts to be alive it becomes a total obsession that takes over my whole life.

6: TELL US ABOUT THE ART YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?
I think that some of the topics and the way I approach and present my work is similar to feminist artists that started working in the 70’s (Carolee Schneemann, Adrian Piper, Judy Chicago)

7: WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR OWN WORK?
That it is honest and direct.

8: WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR OWN WORK?
Its aesthetic, mainly because it isn’t so saleable. I don’t know many people who would like to have my stuff on their walls…

9:  WHAT HAS BEEN THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE SO FAR?
Being in a tandem in paragliding many years ago and dancing “Tango negro” by Juan Carlos Cáceres

10: WHAT MAKES YOU ANGRY?
Injustice

11: WHICH SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE AND WHY?
To fly, so I will be able to be by myself, feel light and free, and (hopefully…) to breathe better air

12: WHAT COULDN’T YOU DO WITHOUT?
Sleep and food

13:  WHAT IS IT ABOUT BAGS?
When ‘Bag Lady’ arrived to me it was just a funny and sad image that described the loss of identity we experience caused by our use and abuse of social media. A study done in 2015 stated that average Millenials will spend over 10 years of their whole life taking selfies. And we heard stories of teens dropping out school and committing suicide because of the pressure of social media presence. How many people in the future won’t be able to dedicate themselves to realize their potential or even realize they have one because they prefer their social media life to the real one?

Later I also realized that bags are the symbol of consumerism we have been forced into since the moment we are born. Before online shopping the majority of what we bought was put inside bags. And social media exists just to force us to consume and be consumed for the benefit of the economic system.

Future shows or events coming up

‘Bag Lady’ is a 2 part project. One is 365 photos with different outfits to be posted daily on Instagram until July 2023. The other part is public performances. I would love to take her around the UK, but considering the outfit, I need hot weather or indoor events to be able to do it.

LIDIA LIDIA