My Video and Performance Art

I believe my next few posts will discuss my video and performance art. I hope to focus on one video every couple of days. I hope you enjoy.

Video and performance art is a touchy subject for most people. Some see it as purely for shock, while others see it as a valid form of artistic expression. I am in the latter group. Yes, some artists can be a little over the top with their performances, but sometimes artists need that strong imagery to convey their message. For example, artist Marina Abramović is known for using what many consider to be violent or explicit imagery in many of her works. Yet much of her work deals with the violence and war in her native Yugoslavia. Though her strong imagery turns many off to her work, I feel that her imagery conveys to the viewer the horrors of war and how it personally affected her life and the lives of her family. Here is a link to an ART 21 about Abramović. If you don't know her work, you should check it out.

 http://www.art21.org/artists/marina-abramovic

I have created videos that are both explicit and subdued. I am of the opinion that if an artists feels that violence, nudity,extreme acts or emotions will enhance the message of a piece, then he or she should use it. I will go into this topic more in depth in the future but here is an excerpt form one of my own performance and video pieces (One of the non explicit ones). You can watch it below, or on my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/cestvrais/videos?view=0 

"Healing" (2010) -
This was my first attempt at video art. I recorded my actions as I performed a piece. Many of my videos serve this purpose. No one but my friend who helped me film, was present for the performance. It was a one time performance, a blip in time. Like many videos of performances, this is all that remains of that unique moment.  The video becomes the piece.  I also create the items used in my videos. I then exhibit both the items and videos together as an installation. Though the videos could stand alone, I feel it is important to exhibit the objects and videos together. Placing the objects with the videos allows the viewers to connect more to the piece and the event. It makes the event more real.

In this piece I combined a Japanese tradition with my own feelings and experiences. I began the piece 2 days after the Haiti earthquake in January of 2010. I am of Haitian descent, and this piece was a way for me to come to terms with the earthquake and served as a way to deal with my anger, pain, and all of the death- 316,000 people had died,300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless (Here is the link to the Wikipedia article about the earthquake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake ). Haiti is still no where near fully recovered. And everyday I think about how I felt and how my family felt when we heard the news. At the time I needed a way  deal with this event, and the images I was seeing.

 I used the traditional Japanese origami folding of cranes as a vehicle for my own mourning and healing. In a span of three months, I folded 1,000 white origami paper cranes I chose the Japanese tradition , making of the cranes, to symbolizes the path and journey of healing. Many see the cranes as a sign of hope, or peace. It was important that the cranes be white, because the color white  is not only a color of morning, but also a color of life and peace. The making of the cranes allows for reflection of life and acts as a form of meditation through constant repetition of action. At the end of the process it is believed that the maker of the cranes is not bodily healed, but his soul is more at peace and more prepared to accept his fate. Through the combination of the Japanese tradition with my own cultural experiences I was able to show the universality of the process of mourning and healing. In the video I walk down a hallway as I place the cranes over my body. The carrying of the cranes symbolizes the burden of the horrific event, but also my journey of healing. 

Out of all of my videos, this one is my favorite, and the one that I feel is the most successful. Through its simplicity, I am able to convey a complex and arduous journey from pain and mourning to healing and peace.