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Bon Mott

ecbalazs

I. At 14 years old I thought about dying. Life was so bleak. I felt lifeless. I felt so ugly with my crooked buckteeth, huge mouth and small eyes. My studies were going badly. Mum and dad were disappointed and angry, but I could not make sense of anything. I didn’t know then that I was dyslexic. Then, bang – Prince!


Bon Mott in Catsuit, worn dancing on stage with Prince in 2012.

As I listened and watched, I felt every cell of my body pulse with life as he straddled the drum with his legs singing “Little Red Corvette” on Solid Gold. I started to teach myself to dance in the mirror, and a smile came to my face – I was happy. From then on, I raced home from school and danced in front of the mirror everyday for two hours before mum and dad came home.


I searched for all clothes that were purple, wore my hair to one side and lived and breathed dance. I lived and breathed Prince. A boy at my school had won a ticket to the Purple Rain premiere at the Capitol Theatre, and he kindly gave his ticket to me. I dressed in a combination of Prince and Vanity. I won a dance competition at the Year Ten school dance, set to Let’s Go Crazy. I used my prize- a record store voucher- to buy the double cassette of Controversy and Dirty Mind.


Museum visitor encounters Bon Mott's catsuit

II. In May 11, 2012, Prince performed at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. At the show, I threw six long stemmed roses with my phone number and “Marry Me” written on each one.


Prince picked up one of the roses and smiled.


I was wearing an electric blue and silver sequined jacket and was asked to get on stage. I threw off my jacket and danced on stage with Prince in a see-thru black leopard skin lace cat suit for the entire duration of Hot Thing. Dancing side-by-side with Prince – he looked me up and down. I was oblivious to 12,000 people watching.


The last time I saw Prince was on Feb 16, 2016 at the State Theatre in Melbourne, Australia for the Piano & a Microphone tour. I came home and cried. Although Prince’s energy was full and bright, I saw his sadness and thought it had to do with Vanity passing away a few days earlier.


I was so sad for some time after that a sort of blanket covered me.


On April 18, 2016, my sister was admitted into hospital for a heart attack.


Prince died on my birthday – April 21.


My sister died 5 days later.


Bon Mott: Transforming from Nicole to Nadja to Bon Mott (performance still),2018

Born Nadja Mott in California, Bon Mott is a performance artist based in Melbourne, Australia.



 
 
 

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