I've been introduced to your work through reading the article in Art & Design and through the TV doc. ID. I am a PhD student researching portraiture in the contemporary age and I find your work/self absolutely fascinating and would love to hear more. I was wondering esp.:

What you think of people such as Orlan/her work?

I have once contacted Orlan via fax and told her my opinion on her work - either she has not received the fax or did not want to react on it... Well, my understanding of artists like Orlan is that they use their body to communicate their message as part of the artform "Bodyart". It is mostly a very blood-thirsty and for viewers not used to this sort of stuff, often quite shocking in appearance.
In general, yes, I have used my body like these artists as a tool to make it easier for my message to get noticed. But that is all we have in common. By no means am I focusing on the blood and bones mentality of those body artists - why putting any attention on the prison cell, when the one who lives in it is much more attractive? I have just used my features to attract the attention I need to get to then invite the interested inside and meet the real me, Soul. All this fuss about the looks and beauty are not at all important for me. The only beautiful thing existing is Soul. All the rest is just the clothes Soul is wearing. Normally I would not have put so much attention to my appearance. But I had to respond to the current ways of society where looks come first. If you don't look the part you will never get a chance to do what you want. In this way I am probably closer to Joan Collins than Orlan.
Regarding the content Orlan is promoting together with her surgery - there might be some parallels. We both have analized society and found that it is at the brink of non-existance. Everybody fights for his own interest, Love is a rare item and only used to get more of what you want. So Orlan has definetly some common ground with me, but then she uses high-flying philosophy to make her point, which, well, look how successfull she was, does not work.
Therefore I use a total different approach to make my point: First The Face is the tool to get the attention I need and second my personality will become more and more important as each of my projects comes to life. I am currently producing several songs aimed to be hits in order to reach as many people as possible in a very subtle way and make the money that will enable me to get to step two: Providing help to the helpless and change the way we are dealing in charity. This is my main task: Help those, who can't help themselves. This means not only homeless and poor people, no, it can be the lonely and isolated billionaire, locked up in a high-secuity mansion, who contemplates the meaning of life and is fed up with just organising money matters - well just say matter. My mission is to raise the awareness about our spiritual longing and belonging. Without this our world will always be illusionary and empty. And I have the feeling Orlan is stuck in this matter world, trying to make people aware about their state of mind, but unable to provide a proper way out or even make them feel and understand, what she is all about. So, no, Orlan has no impact as artist on this world. Still she broke the ice and has braved the surgery in front of cameras and the criticising world. This will always be why she will be remembered and why she is truly a part of the art-world.

Also, do you argree with Cartesian dualism - that the soul & body are separte entities - that the soul/self inhabits the body/visage?

As said above: This is part of my mission - To make people aware about this reality. We are not this body. The body is just a piece of cloth or a vehicle. which I, the spirital being, Soul, use to travel this physical universe. When I translate - I don't die - this empty shell will just be left behind and I move on to the next stage of my journey home to God in another body, which is called the astral body by many of the esoteric sciences. I am currently a student of Eckankar, a religion that teaches the ancient wisdom contained in most of the world religions, but often watered down to make it easier for their followers.

Can one alter the 'self' also through surgery? Or is it purely the external visage which is altered?

I define 'self' as Soul, the real me, which can take on any personality it choses to within its context of karma. Karma limits the choice. If you are free of karma you are free to chose, who you want to be. I have to work on my karma from the time of Nefertiti, the ancient Egyptian Queen, and this defines a lot of my current personality. But there are many other colours to me as well from all those past-lifes I went through and I have to work on them as well. The Nefertiti Personality helps me on my way to fulfil this lifetime's mission. I gain a lot of strength from that past-life, but it is a big burden as well.
So, can one alter the 'self' also through surgery? If you define 'self' as the personality you chose to be, yes, surgery can help to alter the personality. If you define 'self' as your Soul-'self', then Soul is an unchangeable entity and it has no influence if you have surgery or not.
If you want to develop a certain personality, then surgery can be very helpful to make the transformation possible.

If one wants to change the visage, then there has already been an urge of his/her personality to be expressed.

To add to this. Plastic surgery is only one form to change one's personality. Meditation, Sport, Learning etc all help to make the change.

Does the visage we are born with fail to produce an accurate 'portrait' of the internal self?

The visage we are born with is pretty much a mix of what we bring down to this life - all the old karmic patterns or the genetic code as a Biologist would call it - our chosen personality, so, yes it does portrait the internal self or personality.

Is your 'work' concerned with mapping interiority onto exteriority?

Yes, that's well put and true. I try to reflect my being, Soul, me, in the features of my face and body. Thereby I am as honest as possible within the physical limitations.


What would you say to those who argree/wish to alter there external reality but have not got the financial means to do so?

This question has an answer, which is a general one for all people, who want to do something extraordinary, bejond the paths, where the masses are 'safely and securly' guided by their masters. You just have to find ways to make your dream and vision come true. Once I have reached a stage in which I have time to look back, I will write about the effort and often immessurable pain and endurance it took me to get to where I am, including raising over £100.000 without the ability to just draw the money from the bankaccount.


Does their interior being suffer through not having a material referent through which to reach out to people as you do?

If it were their mission to do, what I am doing, they would find ways to fulfil it. If they don't have this mission, why should another one go through the trouble I went through - besides I don't think there is any one on the planet who could successfully do what I have done. You need to be some sort of person...(I try here to refer to the internal powers you have to exercise to be able to break through all the obstacles in your path)