Megan Solis:
Love You Glory

Interviewed by Susana Oliveros Amaya
All images taken out of @glorytexaswest and @missolmegan Instagram accounts

Megan and I met on Instagram before meeting on person. When the semester started she told us that she had commissioned a paranormal teen romance novel entitled Dangerous Magics through an online platform, which she actually printed and published. At the middle of the semester she started mentioning Glory was about to arrive, this supposedly Texan blond girl that was obsessed with the book, love, dating, horses and BBQs. I remember she tried online dating and then she opened an Instagram account. It was not just Glory’s silicon face that was arriving, we had seen some of her things but suddenly we all were waiting for her. We saw her  everywhere, we knew what she liked but she faded each time we wanted more. We never actually met her personally until mid-June when she appeared in a foggy room and sang Etta James “A Sunday Kind of Love” while throwing plastic roses from her beautiful decorated bed. She officially became part of our cohort.  

Susana Oliveros Amaya: I know you were initially interested in painting/comics/drawing. How did they lead to performance? Do feel you could go back to painting?

Megan Solis: Yes, I looked at a lot of alternative comics like Love and Rockets, Ghost World, and Tank Girl. I think what I was drawn to is the narrative aspect of visual world building. I felt an affinity toward the characters just like watching a movie or show. I could create scenes in my head similar to storyboarding.1qI started to feel like the stories I would like to convey were stiffened with 2-D imagery which led me to want to create more of a visceral experience. Performance has been a way for me to do this.

I’m not sure if I will “go back.” I don’t really consider myself a performance artist necessarily, so I don’t feel as if I’m leaving anything. My practice is very interdisciplinary and I find myself creating work that fits specific frameworks for different projects. So drawing and painting are definitely media that I want to keep exploring if they can assist future works.

SOA: Can you talk about your interest in commissioning? Why is this important in your work? How do you understand the notion of "author"/artist in all this?

MS: I think commissioning or outsourcing for objects in my work is important as it is sort of both an anchor and distraction. I see objects as props, which are accessories to feeding norms and comfort that others associate with them. I guess the role of the author has blended into this in certain points, but it’s more similar to a director for me as I feel I am placing everything together to create a story.

SOA: How did Glory West arrive in the project? Did she come from previous works? How do you see her relationship with previous characters/personas?

MS: I needed Glory West to be in my work. She is someone that I think people tend to disregard as a ridiculous character, someone to laugh at. I see her as a set of objects or  props, and tropes that are arranged in a way so as to be almost stereotypical. I am interested in the breakdown of that into something that is deeper and more confusing, to reveal the complexities of human psychology.

I can see her as being an evolution of characters that I have created before, but she is ultimately more ‘real’ than others characters I have created. She has a life before and after me and I am learning more and more to let go and accept that.

SOA: Glory has a very active Instagram account but she always appears by herself. How do you see her relationship with other people? And why is social media so instrumental to her existence?

MS: I am not entirely sure. I think that it might be the most heartbreaking thing about her: she is always trying to socialize and communicate, but is for some reason never truly able to. I think her Instagram persona has been interesting because she has complete autonomy over how she is presented; it’s almost a set of unconscious desires, from a first-person perspective. You see how she talks, how she edits her photos, what she chooses to post.

SOA: What is the relationship between you and Glory? How well/or not do you know her? I have seen you commenting on her Instagram posts—does she know anything about you?

MS: I am getting to know her like I get to know any person. I think there is a morphing with me and Glory and I am currently in the process of figuring out what some of the unions and boundaries are.

SOA: Where do you see this project going next?

MS: I see it splintering off in a way that’s very ‘Choose Your Own Adventure.’ I don’t want to think too much about the future or its end, because it may limit the possibilities or fractures that could occur otherwise. I am more interested in the experience of this journey rather its point of conclusion.