Tracey Rose
San Pedro V: ‘The Hope I hope’ (2005)
This film and photographs document a live performance by the artist that was shot on the West Bank barrier wall that divides Israel and Palestine. Rose dressed as San Pedro, a reference to Saint Peter, a disciple who was a fisherman and became one of the early founders of the Church. San Pedro is a character present in several of Rose’s works including Ciao Bella, 2001. He is recognizable in her practice by his sexy outfits – here the bright pink body paint and fishnet stockings.
She struts along the wall and takes a moment to play a rendition of the Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, on an electric guitar. As the military watch tower in the background makes clear, this is a militarized zone. At once completely surreal and extremely brave, given its context, the performance unfolds as San Pedro plays the Hatikvah, literally translated as ‘The Hope’, the Israeli national anthem, which Rose learnt to play at the age of nine in a Catholic Convent school, from a German nun. It was taught as ‘The Hope, a Jewish folk song’ and Rose and fellow pupils would play it as a quartet on guitar, whilst all the children went to communion at compulsory Friday morning mass.
Rose delivers the performance in the style of punk rock music and theatrics. Her pink skin, face paint, blonde wig and nudity embody rock music’s rebellious spirit. In Rose’s hands, the anthem – originally a Jewish poem and folk song about a sovereign nation – becomes an expression of outrage and hope for an equal society. Surveillance from a distant military watchtower suggests the wall is guarded by soldiers, making the performance a transgressive act.
In a demonstration of radical protest, San Pedro writes lewd graffiti and urinates on the wall, confronting Israel’s policies, based on religious conflict, which govern the land, its people and their freedom of movement. It is clearly a sign of disdain for a structure that separates people, but also a statement that is complicated by the artist’s liking for word play: her appropriation of the phonetic similarity of the word urination and the phrase ‘You’re a Nation’.