Falling

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Video performance

Duration: 1 min

Camera: Luiza Jaffe

Artistic research: Becom(th)ings: Posthumanism, Subjectivity, Performance Art

Arnhem, NL (2020)

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In this video work, I am exploring the theme of 'Falling' by working with the idea of shadows falling on and from my body. I see 'shadows' as an intangible object and also as an extension of myself-visually, psychologically and metaphorically. The falling of shadows on different surfaces provides us opportunities to witness ourselves from the outside. To witness the image of our materiality on other materials through an intangible medium. The fall of the shadow provides a double reality to emerge and gives way for a split in perception of the self and subjectivity to occur. This is closely related to my current research where my interest lies in engaging and intra-acting with objects to open up human subjectivity as a multifarious phenomena as opposed to a singular fixed being, one that opens up to multiplicity of being through engaging with other non-humans, specifically objects-tangible or intangible. Through this video work I hope to elucidate the entangled entities that are at play here- shadows, the environment and my body. I also further engage with the theme of falling by allowing my centre of gravity to falter as I allow myself to free fall. I am playing with the concept of how the 'shadow self' tinkers with the gravity of the 'centre' of the self. (an attempt to challenge the singular/central notion of the self). It throws light on the multiple selves kept in the dark, that can emerge only through the falling of light and thus literally its' shadow and the falling/failing of "balance" to allow for other unknown, unplanned parts of us to emerge. The text of the narration is from Edgar Allan Poe's 'Shadow-A Parable'. It goes as follows: "...the tones in the voice of the shadow were not the tones of any being, but of a multitude of beings, and, varying in their cadences from syllable to syllable, fell duskily upon our ears in the well remembered and familiar accents of many thousand departed friends"