Our final product of the semester ‘Buried’ explores the taboo subject of death, how we cope and heal in the face of something that we all fear yet find difficulty in communicating something so universal. As reflected in academic article Oppression of the Bereaved: A Critical Analysis Of Grief In Western Society, Harris states that “one of the more common questions that clients raise in the context of grief counselling is how one should grieve after a significant loss (i.e., what is normal?). Clients frequently report distress over not just the loss(es) they have experienced, but also to their responses to these losses” in connection to the suppression of expressing or communicating one’s grief (Harris, 2009, p242). This concept is embodied through the modes of sound and video as well as the interaction with the space itself and the entangled relationship they share when working together.
A range of anonymous participants were involved in a ‘social experiment’ to gather varying accounts of one’s relationship with death and their fears affiliated with the subject at hand. It was intentional to keep the conversation opened ended without any expectations of what should be said as we wanted honest accounts and experiences. This was also the primary reason for keeping the participants off screen as we did not want the camera to interfere with any authentic train of thought. Another reason for keeping the privacy of our social actors was due to the sharing of potentially personal and triggering content and in doing this it allowed the participants to share their vulnerability in a comfortable place and creates a level of honesty within the work.
The visual component aims to provoke thought from the viewers through using symbolism that has connotations with death. A number of various images are displayed repetitively such as the use of mirrors, roses and Christian symbols that touch on Western ideas relating to death. The mirrors represent the human memory and nostalgia while the white roses being picked apart aim to embody the process of decay as we age while simultaneously embodying spirituality, purity, and innocence. Following from this it creates a thread in relation to Christian ideals which was presented through the imagery crosses/rosary beads, hands in prayer and the holy trinity which aimed symbolise the blind faith some seek in order to find comfort in death and dying.
In reflecting on our previous project ‘Attached’ (2019) questions arose around how we were going to create a work with a more narrow focus around the nature of death that would aim to be relatable to the majority of viewers. Initially we were unsure of the direction that we should take in representing the subject matter but after much contemplation it was decided that the filmmaker would create an impartial space for discussion surrounding a range of people’s relationship with and the uncovering of closeted fears surrounding death. Another question that was of much debate was how we can gather these personal accounts of people’s close experiences with death and to be sure that it is done in a way that is not exploitive of their vulnerability especially taking into consideration when discussing a loss of a loved one we must approach the subject to the participant sensitively; after some thought as previously mentioned it was decided that this could be achieved through giving those involved anonymity.
The subject of death has infinite possibilities with regards to what can be explored depending on which thread one chooses to focus on; ours primarily being our fear of death and highlighting our hesitancy to articulate this. Early into the stages of considering what direction I planned to take with such a broad topic was significantly influenced by Bennett’s ‘The Agency of Assemblages’ and the concept of ‘thing power’ in relation to the “efficacy of objects in excess of the human meanings, designs, or purposes they express or serve” (Bennett, 2010, p20). In trying to capture this notion in addition to the exploration of death, it would be interesting to grow from previous project ‘Buried’ and attempt to have create an installation using a turntable sculpture, attaching various broken mirrors and religious symbolism in conjunction with more carefully conceptualised imagery that is then projected onto the turntable, theoretically resulting in fractals of the projected images reflecting and spinning around the room. If this was achieved this would represent the themes of ‘thing power’ in juxtaposition with nostalgia and memory, which are generally not instant associations with death but if one scratches beneath the surface, questions arise in how these connections we have and how we interact are key reasons to why we react to the nature of the death as we do. This is something in future work I in some capacity intend to dissect the reasons why humans implement avoidance tactics and suppress emotions surrounding topics of conflict or distress, which arguably has detrimental effects in relation coping with death.
In viewing Rosslynd Piggott’s vast and versatile exhibition ‘I Sense You But I Cannot See You’, it was influential in helping build ideas around the possibilities with what our group can do to engage the viewer within the exhibition space. A specific work within the exhibition that sparked inspiration was her contemporary work ‘Fall’ (1993-1994) and work itself is made to “allude to a range of associations including sex, life, birth, death and various emotional and dream-like states”. A number of these concepts already matched some of our explored themes from assignment 2 and inevitably guided us in developing our third assignment. Our group was particularly intrigued by the use of mirrors within the installation as it gave the work a more dimensional layer of depth in conjunction with the video works presented. In relation to our project we chose to use mirrors both within the visual work as well as the interactive space to represent the theme of memory and reflection on the past. From the interviews that we gathered we discovered a common thread of people associating their fear and grief with the strong memories that they have with particular individuals. In relation to this a participant stated “they are people that you spend time with, you have memories and fun with them and after you lose them you can spend that time with them anymore”(0.45). Within Piggott’s exhibition the experimental usage of projectors was prominent throughout and roused inspiration to how we could create a more engaging space with regards to how we present the moving image within the exhibition. We wanted the projectors to have an interactive relationship to the mirrors within the display as we interpret their place within the project as representing the human nature of memory. As previously explained the mirrors purpose is to signify the reflection of the past especially with regards to the shots of the projector reflecting off the mirror (2.45) as it depicts false projections of memories as they can be distorted when somebody experiences grief and loss. Within the video work itself we chose to include the use of projectors within the shots in order for there to be more continuity between the work and how it is exhibited. There are two specific shots that were included that displayed time lapses of various items decaying, the most relevant image being that of a pig with a clock next to the body with the compliments of the religious symbols such praying to signify the meaning we give things and the comfort we find in them, even in death.
Over the duration of the semester my understanding of what entangled media is and what it can be has progressively developed and the ideas that have been formed along the way have strengthened by ability with regards to the interconnections between all things within our reality, all one must do is find that thread that links even the most contrasting concepts. In reflection upon reviewing the first reading of the semester which was Ingold’s ‘Rethinking the animate, reanimating thought’, he explains that we should not focus on the elements itself “but on the connections between them, and thereby to adopt what is often called a relational perspective” (Ingold, 2011, p70). Throughout this course it has taught me to find threads and connections between organisms and how they make sense of the complexity that is our world. My discovery was that the most simple and inevitable aspects within existence cause the most confusion and distress to society such as the topic of death which has been a primary focus of the semester. When analysing the cycle of life, death and decay and how it is treated within society shows that we try to box in and categorise these natural phases opposed to seeing this journey as being “no inside or outside, and no boundary separating the two domains. Rather there is a trail of movement or growth” (Ingold, p69). This concept was particularly inspiring in conjunction with Bennett’s theories of ‘thing power’ and the interactive effect they have, which I tried to present through the use of symbolism within the visuals and used the threads of entanglement to link the images which individually do not necessarily directly represent death but when interacting with other symbols it creates a concept that follows on with streams of thought in relation to ideas of death. The most significant change in how I now interpret entanglement to be is the acceptance of these messy interconnections as sometimes these links in life (or death) are closely related and sometimes the thread is distant; entanglement gives us an understanding of how complex our world is and in finding connections, this reassures us that we can make sense of the sometimes inexplicable.
Bibliography:
Ingold, T (2011) ‘Rethinking the animate, reanimating thought’, Being alive: essays on movement, knowledge and description, Routledge, London, New York: 67-75 (69-71)
Bennett, J (2010) The Agency of Assemblages. In Vibrant Matter. A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, London: Duke University Press, pp. 20–38.
Harris, D (2009) Oppression of the Bereaved: A Critical Analysis Of Grief In Western Society. OMEGA, [Online]. 60, 241-253. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1a76/bd40d7c8d64baa31ae359763c05f4f42da78.pdf [Accessed 4 June 2019].
Personal release forms: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1150UV0SuktymFrs_uT9IIMVB8D1zVjrL