flesh and blood
running time: 6 min : 05 seconds
camera
Kali van der Merwe
editing
Kali van der Merwe
soundscapes
Kali van der Merwe
This piece is an exploration into identity, belonging, family and genealogy.
The protangonist removes a face mask of white clay – slowly - fingerprint by fingerprint of clay to finally end up with her unadulterated face. In the process she reveals (sacred) white dot markings that could signify cultural identity.
This mask removal is intermingled with footage of menstrual blood dripping in water, pig carcasses being cut up and hot dog sausages being mass produced.
The audio accompaniment is the sound of blood flowing through the body, recorded with Doppler sonography.
The carcass cutting and sausage mass production were filmed in a butchery owned by relatives of the artist. The menstrual blood was the artist’s own, collected in a mooncup. Doppler sonography records blood flowing through arteries and veins. The recordings were conducted by the artist on her own body with a machine unofficially borrowed for a few days from a private hospital.
all images copyright of Kali van der Merwe