Chloé Piene - Blackmouth, 2004

In her 2004 film Blackmouth, Chloé Piene presents a young woman in a dark external setting with a single, harsh light source highlighting her and offering glimpses of the muddy, wet environment and the assorted plant matter that surrounds it. The subject is herself coated in the detritus of the scene, wet and near naked in her vest and knickers, as she writhes animalistically, her body tensing and jerking while her face contorts into grimaces and frowns. The movements are slowed, the camera angle low and creating a distorted foreshortening effect, and the corresponding sounds – guttural, time-stretched groans and moans – combine to create an unnerving other, with the subject becoming as alien as she is familiar. The contrast between these two states creates an uncanny and disconcerting horror: neither human nor animal, it is difficult to discern whether the young woman is in a state of pain or terror, or whether she has thrown off ‘civilised’ behaviours and is writhing in a joyous, liberated abandon.

The subject’s movements evoke what Julia Kristeva defines as the semiotic (McAfee, 2004, p 17); that is, the pre-linguistic state of self that is ‘internally felt’ while not yet able to explicitly articulate itself through language. By using her movements and facial expressions, the subject still communicates to the viewer, but her precise message becomes ambiguous and open to interpretation. How we each view this work and the young woman’s movements will always be influenced by our own experiences and drives; where many will see anguish, others will see freedom and empowerment.

Within the videos I created for I Dream of the Same House Again and Again (Death Posture), I have tried to evoke this primality, from the Woman in the Woods to the messy, painted hands bandaging their clay.