Helene Black: 2006 :: In Transition

Lanitis Foundation, Limassol Cyprus
International Group show initiated by Sheila Pinkel and Helene Black and Co-organised by Sheila Pinkel, Helene Black and NeMe
2006

The title of this video installation implies a fundamental asymmetry of relationships. ‘Lost Objects’, symbolic of the desire of both the religious and physical ideal by creating a state of nostalgia as a means of maintaining this most unreal state. ‘The Anticipation’ implies an active state of the desire of ‘the return’ whilst simultanously expressing a state of flux, a momentum because anticipation can only occur within a condition of flight from one state to theanticipated next.

So ‘the return’ is an abstract dichotomy existing only in the future tense and made comprehensible when embodied within a context of nostalgic representation of the real. This state of anxiety is enhanced by the slow motion of the image which is dislocated by the superimposition of two images, an iconic image of the Byzantine Christ and a woman’s face which embodies contains movement bringing the image into perceived real time. This combination of images aims to dissolve the sense of presence to be present, a belonging which is real, a confusing referent.

The monitor image of the naked figure rolling in raw umber introduces an uncomfortable silence in contrast to the quasi religious projection. The continuous movement from left to right introduces the desire to establish a logic of self-dissolution as the nakedness of the figure becomes embedded into the texture of the brown earth.

“old earth tell me no lies” is a phrase from Samuel Beckettt which bridges the two images and introduces yet another level of reading the installation. The introduction of text questions the use of language as a means of presenting ‘historical truths’. The desire for historical truths is question as a valid method of belief and whether these remnants and remains are of any real relevance.