Abstract
This video takes its form from the music video for Taylor Swift's song Style, in which she plays out a fraught relationship with a male antagonist. The narrative is understood through the binary of these two characters pitted against each other. In this video of 7 minutes and 31 seconds, both characters become one performed by the artist, attempting to present a fluidity within a framework set up to present binaries. Thoughts on gender and growing up are entangled and confused by the harsh and arbitrary categorisations of identities of race and sexuality as the adolescent continues a struggle to find a place in the narrative structures that exist around them. The work is in Cantonese with English subtitles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Duration: 07:31 min.Image/sound Type: Moving Image
Impact: The work was originally commissioned by A---Z for Part 2 of Gaze to the UNKNOWN, a curated film screening and performance event at Mimosa House, London (UK) as part of a programme exploring the work of Tomaso Binga. Tomaso Binga is a multidisciplinary artist and one of the leading figures in visual poetry. Tomaso Binga is the pseudonym of Bianca Menna, who in the early 70s appropriated this masculine name as an artistic pseudonym to question male privilege in the art world. The video was screened alongside work by Peter Spanjer, Vasiliki Antonopoulou, Bjork directed by Tobias Gremmler, Barbara Hammer, Mathis Hang Zhang and a performance by Zoë Marden. Exploring artistic practice and knowledge exchange through presentations, screenings and discussions, A---Z aims to open up to a large audience through the sharing of discursive practices that deconstructs boundaries preconceived by ideas of race, gender identity, and so-called histories in terms of the power relations which exist around us.
The work has since been screened and broadcast in other curated programmes and events including in TRANSMISSIONS (Season 3 Episode 1) programmed by Anne Duffau, Hana Noorali, and Tai Shani, and supported by the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Chisenhale Gallery, Forma Arts and Media, Netwerk Aalst, Somerset House Studios, South London Gallery & the Wysing Arts Centre.